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soul drifter
Senior Member
since 2004-09-08
Posts 711
Colorado

0 posted 2005-06-28 02:11 PM


Sam & Me (Return To New Jersey)

Sam and me
we used to be together
we used to get high on the hood of her mom's car
listenin' to Pretenders records all day
she liked 'Stop Your Sobbing'
and I liked 'Show Me'
'cause it reminded me of her
and all the worlds she revealed to me
these worlds that wouldn't mean as much
as soon as I would return to New Jersey
I know it now
I knew it then
and so I kissed her every chance I got
played her like a piano
Chopin and Elton John lullabyes
as our smoke and laughter curled through the air
I called her Ruby Tuesday
she called me Strawberry Fields
it was our secret code, a decoder ring for our love
we'd stare at the ground, at our shoes, and then fleeting glances
at eachother's eyes
find whatever meaning we could find inside our tired blue eyes
and attach tired old intellectual cliches to our stupid lives
we'd have deep conversations in the pool, or up on the roof
words and feelings exchanged
comparing scars and awful parents
sip black raspberry tea and watch the clouds take shape
I see a ballerina pirouetting, what do you see?
Do you see me and you down the road,
discovering there's so much more to this wishful thinking
than we've ever guessed before?
Right now I see
returning to New Jersey is hard as hell
Sam and me, we should go together
we should stay this way for a while
for however long we can fake it
take it, this quirky relationship
this means something to me
c'mon Ruby Tuesday, let's follow the sun
as it dips down past Chesapeake Bay
the streets empty and wide open for us
and I'll kiss you every chance I get
play you like a guitar
flamenco sunrays and Jimi Hendrix effigies
engulfing the gulf stream
as it runs through my veins
straight to my heart like a cannonball
till poetry is exploding in my mind
and it's all for you
Sam, you're all I need
say the same to me
won't you consider it
as we dip into another round of drinks
screwdrivers and psychotic strangers
in the hotel lobby
or outside the university study hall
Thomas Pynchon and a new suit of clothes
as I come to meet her
under the rainstorm on 53rd street
I rehearse my goodbyes
memorize the sweetness in her eyes
a book of my poetry wrapped in rice paper
a kiss on her soft pale cheek
this is the end of this
no, it's the to-be-continued line
the taxi is coming down and I'm counting time
ticking seconds left with her
keep those Pretenders records
I'll be back for them and you
we'll get high again when I return
so be there on the Atlantic City shore
I promise I won't be late
I promise you
Sam and me
we used to be forever...

"Poets are all who love, who feel great truths, and tell them; and the truth of truths is love." --Philip James Bailey

© Copyright 2005 Zach Hilgefort - All Rights Reserved
Pilgrimage
Member Elite
since 2001-12-04
Posts 3945
Texas, USA
1 posted 2005-06-28 02:33 PM


This is beautiful all the way through, but that last line says it all.  used to be forever.  Where have all the forevers gone?

Nan (Pilgrim variety)

JamesMichael
Member Empyrean
since 1999-11-16
Posts 33336
Kapolei, Hawaii, USA
2 posted 2005-06-30 12:15 PM


Nice...James
Susan Caldwell
Member Rara Avis
since 2002-12-27
Posts 8348
Florida
3 posted 2005-06-30 09:02 AM


hmmm..

perfection.

You tell the story of you and Sam in a way that leaves me longing for a story of my own.

"too bad ignorance isn't painful"
~Unknown~

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