Romance, or something like it.

I wrote this one day when I had just stepped down off of my soapbox, ranting about Valentine's Day.

The short version of the rant is this: I think Valentine's Day is ridiculous and a waste of time and romance. If you can't say "I love you" 365 days of the year, why bother to do it only on one day? And I would much prefer to have a romantic gesture on a random day when I didn't expect anything...

Anyhow, June 12 became an unoffical romantic poem day for me and a group of poets. Here is the first one I wrote.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
June 12th


This time last year

was river-fed and angular
was stirred by crystal zephyrs
was your smirk in my brain’s scrapbook
was meticulous merriment
was drops gathered in word sponges
was crabgrass between my toes
was how I’d imagined you’d smell
was the ratcheting of crickets
was the aching rise of pitch at the end of your sentence
was time slick with the artful varnish of optimism
was the grain of your beard crumbling beneath my breath
was toasted foolishness
was our absurd valentine

12 June 2003