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Nothing Ever Came of It
The first kiss in front of the iron gate at P.S. 95
a warm spring night we walk from the park
along the cyclone fence of the school yardv
beneath the hovering gothic building
in the darkness between lamp posts
we stop I lean tentatively forward
and kiss her face, her mouth,
she kisses back. I wrap my arms
around her tightly, we fall back against
the locked iron gates with their pointed tops
I walk her home we say nothing.
Coming home on the elevated Culver Line
getting off at the Neck Road end
through the bars of the iron gate
which I used to crawl under
the most daring thing I ever did
down the long stairway
past the darkened Dutch graveyard
stopping by the iron fence of the Pentacostal
church, the crazy church we kids called it
because of the loud singing and shouting
they bang their heads against the pews
we said though none of us had ever been
inside and we didn't know anybody who had
We stopped and embraced and kissed long
long kisses and we pressed against the bars
and I opened her coat in the cold winter night
and our warm bodies told each other we couldn't
wait and our tongues reached out to our souls
but nothing ever came of it.
After all the mornings one morning stays
during our college years during the second phase
after splitting and coming together again
when I went to call for her on the way to class
I rang the bell and she came to the door
in a bulky robe looking flushed with fever
and I came in and soon we were holding
each other in the hallway and her robe was
open and my hands were closer to her warmth
than they had ever been and she avoided my mouth
and there I was all dressed and ready for school
and her mother was downstairs making breakfast
and her sister coming downstairs
and nothing ever came of it.
All those phone calls
night after night
we talked for hours
after seeing each other
only hours before
what did we say
I recall none of them
none except the last
I'm just calling to say
good luck congratulations
just troublemaking
none of her business
just butting in
nothing ever came of it.
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