1. That night before I was to move a mere 90 miles to the south (but 90 miles at fourteen is a lifetime: it was, and it is). Your dad? A fire-n-brimstone minister. I? Ragged long hair, atheist, earrings, but a good athlete...so he tolerated me. You? Mostly deaf, with a speech impediment. Me? I cared not one bit and ignored, at that impressionable age, those "defects" because you were a great person, with a great personality, had a smile that ignited the room, and, as I was to find out later, were a phenomenal kisser.
2. You told me, after sleeping with my brother, and I was desperately smitten and pouring my heart out, that "Wow. I'll bet you could write really good poetry." Guess what? I did. And I do. My poetry was later published for times in three publications, both before and after minoring in the subject in college.
3. You were the one I never wanted (until it was too late), but were the sweetest of the pack...you were irretrievably bitten, if not by lust then revenge against the sister that did me very very wrong. And you were married. I should have tried harder.
4. You were the one I did want, and never should have had, and I did you a great wrong, perhaps out of malice for another, perhaps out of lust. In any event, those motive do not matter because, one day, if you ever stumble across this, I will not ask your forgiveness, merely your understanding for taking advantage of you.
5. Your fiance had just raped you again, but you -as a European immigrant- wanting a better life unbeholden to a man, wanted your own career,and your own life; you wanted to become a psychologist. We became lovers, but we were always better friends. I gave you money to get your own place for a month to get the hell away, and you ran. Good for you. You did became a psychologist, and I am happier than most for that decision.
6. You're a Yankee, and your dad was a cardiologist. When I pulled up on my motorcycle he instantly despised me. You left anyway, and we spent many nights together giggling over grits, drinking cheap beer and watching the fish nibble at the dam.
7. We danced. Oh, my, how we danced. Over and over again, throughout law school, we danced, and smiled and laughed, and for thost first two years, those smiles got me through...even if we only shared them on Fridays.
8. We sat in your apartment, writing quotes on the wall, drinking great beer, and feeling as one person, thinking as one person, and then you changed...utterly, wholly and completely. And my world was diminished.
9. I read The Prophet to you...I read anything and everything for you...and every passage meant something. And always will.
10. You made the best wings in the world. You remain, to this day, one of the most profane, introspective, and genuinely moral people I've ever met...yet you tempered all of that with grace, intelligence and humor...it could have worked out in a different world, at a different time.
And now, because I need it, and you need it...a tag team of Julio & Willie
* Nota Benne: That would be INDIA, not China.
** Ummm, it goes without saying that, with one exception, these are all chicks. As to the other, you know who you are.
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