sunny guy with twinkling eye
and eversmile, partner in prank
with my college boyfriend taught
me how to wander room to
room with toothbrush gave
us many hours of satisfaction
with his rock band always
sounded good to me although
we made fun of how he
said ‘down t’the shore’

fantastic figure of a force
in fashion – I want to
have a window I can
use to peer into her
life, her closet, her trips
to Europe (Belgium currently) – still
young enough to take advantage
of her mother, wrestles heavy
glamor from metallic urban grime –
style lives, her almighty power

childhood friend from school, her
premier attribute being “Guy,” her
brother’s name – appealed to me
as odd, and somehow French,
although why would I think
“French” at that age in Illinois?
in appearance both mature, demure
(might have been the uniform)
her voice and hair both spirally,
curling with softspoken spunk

epitome of gentle shy brown
eyes cast down to page
of fiction (science) flavored with
the taste of diner poetry

another might be giddy to
work part time in chocolate
the rest in books but
that’s from outside looking in

inside might reside pure melancholy
or a ferocious cante jondo

wry whimsical and francophilic
more than you’d expect from a
financial guy, even one involved
in SRI and – Green! – friend
I can (almost) confide in
though I keep my stupider
fiscal theories to myself and
cast dollar signs aside rather
than hold him to cold hard
facts of cash accumulation

successful at Penn State including
Italian studies in Milan – her
travel yen, our benefit that
year – now traveling far beyond
our reach, this redhaired valley
Huckleberry poles her raft decisively
through tricky currents, voluptuous sunsets
soothe her hedgehog nature, prickly,
plucked, unsettled, searching as they
do for what’s right here