the parallel school

the parallel school

 

 

girls,

in patent leather bound textbooks

 

those are the lessons i wanted to learn

zoned out the Nuns with their rosary beaded vocabulary

and diagrammed sentences,

 

i wanted to be the verb that played her object

and become the object of her affections

 

hoping she would preposition me,

but instead,

i hid my heart between the covers

of mundane math, and English and history

 

and my history consisted of blank pages

when it came to her

 

i still dream of those lessons i never had

and the bruised knuckles incurred 

 

as my grade point consisted

of failing numbers,

because i never even got a first kiss

 

no matter how intensely i studied her countenance

no matter how many letters i wrote to her in class

but never sent,

no matter how many times i got the verbs wrong

 

no matter how much i dared to be 

her only pupil

in a school no one else attended

but me.

 

 

 

 

erin-cilberto

9/7/16

Reviews

[Kirsty Woodward]

Jacob, your way with words is like no other. Your lines have a way of punching me in the stomach. Just beautiful and a very nostalgic feeling in this one.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind words, Kirsty..

j.

[1VJ]

Sounds like you went to Catholic school, I'm not sure you were even supposed to 'think' those verbs, pensively sweet, a nice token to savor.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

oh yes, all of what you said is true...

thank you for the read and your comment, Paloma

j.

[Alfred Kukitz]

I'd loan you the way back machine but it's broken and I don't know when the repair man is coming. In the interim let me say I have found regret and it seems it never goes away. Maybe next time Jacob!

Regards,
Al

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes, it never seems to, does it?
thanks Al.

j.

[Paul Bell]

Wouldn't it be great to go back in time and change all that. Hand the letters over, fall in love. If only, if only.
I suppose growing up is the greatest obstacle in life.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your words, Paul
j.

[emmajoy]

Cleverly put.. as always: a how to write a love poem with a wrap.around of metaphorical wizardry!

There are some sweet mentions in this, ' .... i wanted to be the verb that played her object - and become the object of her affections.. ' and some sharp words, '.. no matter how many times i got the verbs wrong .. no matter how much i dared to be .. her only pupil .. .. '

Such a a mix of emotions here, not unexpectedly considering the final two lines. Sadness there, a memory perhaps, that's true.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind review, emma.
j.

[.]

A lovely write, Jacob!

There is an intense solemnity about this piece; that old feeling of regret and missed opportunity. There is nothing as lonesome as having one's heart enslaved by a beauty that we can only glimpse across a room. We sigh. We stare. We write notes we never deliver. We have whole conversations in our heads with this object of our affection, just in case we EVER get the chance to talk to her. We live in the parallel world just as your title brilliantly suggests.

I really enjoyed this poem, Jacob. Perhaps because i know only too well what it was like to live in that parallel world. Fine writing!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

such insights...thank you, Doodley.

j.

[Jerome F Knox III pseud..]

I just read your stuff ad shake my head and wonder why do I write and how can I write when you exist in the world. awestruck I am as usual....I bask in your greatness....

[jacob erin-cilberto]

you are kind with your words, Rico,
thank you.

j.

[Bacchus]

ha- and yet so many of us here are your pupils...
funny to turn that around.
well done, prof.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, Bacchus...

i get major inspiration from this site and all the poets on it.

j.

[Nisreen]

Lol
This is such a sweet write

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, Curiosity...
j.