Matinee


I was 10 when I fell in love with Pat Boone
and the movie April Love, 
where some girl had broken his heart, 

and his sandy love letters 
disappeared with the water’s sloppy kiss.
I wanted to slap her for being 

so heartless and so mean to a boy  
who wore a sweater vest and white bucks 
even on the beach, his hair immaculate 

in the wind. How could she hurt 
this splendid god, a boy who could sing 
to her like that, a boy so handsome

that seagulls adored him?
She must have been cruel
and a brunette with spit curls 

carved into her cheeks, frosty 
eyes, lips cut from blushing coral.
As I watched from my seat in the Rivoli, 

I felt his tears falling with each sad wave, 
and I knew I could do it better, cherish him, 
save his pretty and impossible heart.  

I wanted to send him sweet words 
that wouldn’t disappear, this longing 
larger than anything I’d known.

-Catch and Release, chapbook, Marsh River Editions: 2005