The Swing
Three of us are walking
in a small field -
the girl I loved,
myself and her friend,
that we had come to visit.
We came upon a swing,
and as I remember it,
I am in front of her
pushing her gently -
away, knowing she would return.
It wasn't the way her hair
was caught in the sunlight
in front of me,
It wasn't the smooth,
the calming, undulating motion
of the swing.
It was what happened at that moment.
For a moment there,
looking into each other's eyes,
for how long, I don't know,
half a minute, or ten minutes,
and everything else faded
from our awareness...
after so many years,
decades,
I still remember this moment.
That's what love is.
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This was one of the first poems I read at that first poetry reading when I first found the courage to share my poetry with a group of people. It was about a love of mine named Celta. She had asked to visit a guy friend of hers when I came to visit her that day. His name was David. I was a bit jealous. It seemed like at that moment, pushing Celta on the swing David had faded away, his words stopped. He probably knew what was happening between Celta and me.
Celta and I weren't even officially boyfriend and girlfriend. We cuddled and all but we didn't even kiss as boyfriend and girlfriend do.
I had read this poem when I came to a new city for a new job. The city was Wilmington, North Carolina. I wasn't expecting to meet anyone else that I would love. Celta had died over one year and three months prior to making the move to Wilmington.
Despite all my expectations and beliefs, I actually fell in love again, with Lynn Denise Krupey. And believe it or not, but the love was more blessed, more glorious, more powerful, more holy, and more meaningful. I don't even know what those words actually mean and I don't know that I can explain it. I am talking about something emotional. Maybe that is what really matters.
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What Matters Most: Poems About Love, Loss, & Trauma
PoetryThis is a collection of poems inspired by love, loss of love, and other events that began in late July of 2000. This is my autobiography in poetry form. It's not just about love but also about the loss of those I have loved. I had fallen totally and...
