LOVE HEARTS

A BOY AND GIRL IN 1950S LONDON AND SWEET CANDY

Enid takes
a Love Heart
from the pack
I offer

she looks at
the coloured
lettering
on the sweet

what's it say?
I ask her

I love you
she replies

(not something
that a 9
old year boy

wants to hear
from a girl)

I take out
a Love Heart
from the pack

what's your say?
she asks me

Kiss Me Quick
I read out

her dark eyes
gaze at me
shall I then?
she utters

I wouldn't
you don't know
where I’ve been
I tell her

her lips pout
then we mouth
our Love Hearts
and suck them
in silence

no one's said
I love you
about me
or to me
Enid says
seen it said
in the films
at the flicks
but one one
has said it
to my face

(I knew that
her old man
wouldn't have
said those words
her mother
couldn't form
that sentence
of warm words
for all tea
in China
I think that
but don't say
as we sit
on the top
of the brick
and concrete
bomb shelter
on the grass
of Banks House)
we swallow
the Love Hearts

have you said
kiss me quick
to a girl?
she asks me

not ever
while awake
I tell her

(what 9 year
old boy would
say such thing?)

she looks at
the black steel
railway bridge
across from
where we sit

but would you
say it now?
she utters

don't think so
I reply
another
sweet Love Heart?

I offer
from the pack
she takes one
and reads it

what's it say?
I ask her

broken heart
she tells me

I take one
from the pack

what's yours say?
she inquires

take a kiss
I reply

her dark eyes
feed on me

can I then?

(O my God
what to say
I’m thinking)

I guess so
I utter

preparing
for the worse
her 2 wet
9 year old
little lips
kiss my cheek
the wetness
seems to stay
even when
she has moved
her 2 wet
lips away

was that good?
she asks me

it was fine
I reply

I then put
the Love Hearts
pack away
in my coat
as we suck
on our sweets
the flavours
sickly sweet

she gazes
at me with
affection

I look down
at my feet.

Author's Note

PHOTO BY COLIN O'BRIEN