Dancing Leads to Love ... Or Not!
Sometimes love sucks ... and sometimes it doesn't.
Did You Ever Fall In Love …
With a boy who reminded you
Of a rock star?
Or that nerdy kid
With horned-rimmed glasses
Who danced like Baryshnikov?
How about that cute soccer player
Who smiled at you in passing
As you walked opposite ways
On the college campus?
Then you bumped along for years
Wondering why your meet-ups
Lacked the luster that made you shine
Or intervals between loves
That mucked up the timing.
Then comes that night
When you ask the Universe
What gives?
Who's out there who
Will love me as much
As I love him
At the same time?
The whispered name
Is not who you expect?
What?
Him?
He looked at me once
No, he leered at me
Scared hellouttame!
Besides I think I turned him off
When I walked away.
Next morning the phone rings
Totally out of the blue
And forty years later
We're drinking Champaign.
Lament
Love sucks
she fights back tears
traced through fourteen years of crushes
including that boy in kindergarten
who yelled at her
'leave me alone'
at a class party.
What’s wrong with me?
Nobody will ever love me.
What could I say?
I had the same problem
falling in love with boys
who recoiled if I approached.
I remember that look of terror
across Fred’s face
when I asked him
to the girls’ dance.
So what could I tell her?
I certainly couldn’t pull a plum
of wisdom from my mother who
according to her stories
died a virgin.
Cowboy Dancing
In a little bar and pool hall
off the side of a side road north of Elko
he tipped his hat and took my hand
soon my feet were off the floor
where he whirled me past nausea
and wondered why I fled to the ladies’ room.
Nowadays I watch the crowded dance floor
sidelined by untrustworthy knees.
My husband, Bears, wraps his arm
around my waist and plants his feet
never to move in rhythm to music.
Sometimes I dream of cowboys
sweeping me off my feet
as if I were a calf to be tied and branded
it's then I sigh with gratitude
that Bears is strong and steady
and dances only in tiny circles
with his arms surrounding me.
Awesome!