What Penance never Resolved

What Penance never Resolved

 

 

 

old girlfriends

scars of smiles

wicked tongues burning midnight oil

skin to skin conversation

back seat rendezvous 

racing upstream in adolescent strokes

 

life laughs in rhythm

grown up sighs

shivering from the words we didn't say

just felt

 

no pretentious moods then,

some confessional moments

as our Fathers would listen

probably with a grin

at our stammering soliloquies

 

we knelt with 17 year old knees

expressing something

that many years later

 

 

would reflect

an old simper

of satisfaction.

 

 

erin-cilberto

12/20/17

Reviews

[barleygirl]

Your subtlety here is exquisite. Using so few words you plant effusive blossoms of imagery that sucked me into long-forgotten reveries. But I have to admit, I did not understand the ending *sigh!* Fondly, Margie

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your words, Margie.
j.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

just smile in reflection of that time...(the ending)

[barleygirl]

Thanks for clarification . . . the word "simper" was unfamiliar to me, so it didn't conjure up the right idea! *smile*

[Corset]

how the years do go by, and when were in them we still feel the same as we did the year before even though the outside starts to look a bit different than the inside still feels and remembers 17 so clearly XD

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind words, Corset...
Happy New year, my friend.
j.

[Norman 223]

Ah, those young golden days of self discovery were also so g(u)ilt edged. Your words brought back so many memories, Jacob.
N.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for relating Norman...

appreciate your words,
j.

[Lydia Shutter]

I once dated a Catholic boy. He told me he confessed what we did at the drive in to his priest...never dated HIM again! Guilt...it drives some of us, doesn't it? When we are older and presumably wiser, can we be guilt free? I wonder. Good one. Lydi**

[jacob erin-cilberto]

that is a good question, Lydi...could we?
thank you for sharing your story...sounds like a Catholic Boy..he's probably still saying his rosaries as penance...
j.

[barleygirl]

In preparation to write a little story about a heart-throb from high school, I asked Facebook friends to share any details they remembered from this guy who was much beloved. One of his friends posted that he already knew everything we did in the backseat of this other guy's bright orange road runner . . .

[Lydia Shutter]

Woohooo Margie! :)

[andrew mitchell]

While the young promote innocence
the church always preaches guilt
except when its within its walls!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

that is unfortunately true, andrew...

j.

[Alfred Kukitz]

I can hear the priest mumbling 5 Hail Marys & 5 our fathers. Amen

Ah! Grace again.

Regards,
Al

[jacob erin-cilberto]

our priest used to yell the penance to us...i think everyone in the church heard....
thank you, Al
j.

[Ted Kniffen]

Hmmm! All those steamy nights on the banks of the Detroit River watching submarine races seem a lifetime away now...probably because they are...oh but the memories.
Thanks j.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes, they do seem a lifetime away...and all that Catholic guilt...oh well...thanks Ted.
j.

[alanwgraham]

Very good Jacob. These memories still cast a long clear shadow down the years. I wish i had a sliver of your skill at fashioning these oblique images! I suppose like most things they need working at.
Regards, alan

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your very kind words, alan...
believe me...i don't know where the words come from...they just do, and i write them down...can't really take credit for being a conduit.
but thank you
j.

[Jimmy Yetts]

A unique perspective.
Your insight keenly and quickly spans decades.
Enjoyed the overview!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind words, Jimmy...
j.

[John the Baptist]

An interesting look back at the intersection of hormones and religion. Adolescents doing their duty, though their minds were elsewhere. Nice.

PS: Verse 3. Do a spell check on "soliloquy's."

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thanks, John...and for the catch...i do spell check but it missed that one...will fix.