a big city  a big-shouldered city

two kids

16 and a new driver's license   

the other

almost 15  

a sunday in march   a crazy warm day

for big shoulders

two kids   unsophisticated   going into the city

going to the park on a lark   it’s scary

driving to the city for the first time

it’s a perfect spring day   the park is sparkling

after the long winter

the cinder-gray snow finally gone   the earth warm and dry

they find a place to spread their blanket by the tulip garden

the tulips yet to bloom   but lovely

it suddenly seems exciting and romantic   a hint of audrey hepburn   

they kiss

feel that funny warmth that is so compelling

~

that is the scene and setting   but what happens

to make the day poem-worthy

put yourself in their place   two youngsters in the city

on their own for the first time  

senses are firing furiously   attuned

colors are vivid   brilliant   different in inexplicable ways 

from the tulip gardens at home

it’s a sunday in the park on a nice spring day   

it’s young love   it’s easy to imagine  

even the shadows   the unseen   that too is easy to imagine  

it adds up to a lot   they like it   it's enticing   

no one knows them or watches them   no one cares if they kiss

they are exploring their agency   as sona says 

discovering 

what it means to be an individual away from critical eyes   

to be open   responsive   aware 

to be   simply put   in a new environment on their own

~

maybe it isn't a poem-worthy story   maybe it’s a story

not a poem   but it happened   

no other march day from that year is remembered   

not specifically

there were school day and work days   

none were singular   there were friday nights 

after her mother went to bed   

but that was every friday night   and every saturday night 

and after school in her bedroom 

with the door closed   doing what came naturally   

all wonderful   but none singular 

a retraction  

some were singular   many were singular

spectacularly so   

but this is about a day in the park 

~

i send an email   she has no memory of it   

what was i wearing   

she asks   a clue   i remember so much   not that   it is lost   

she was so young   

there has been too much between then and now   

i will be the keeper of that memory   she can return the favor someday   

it is important  

the dark days that came later shouldn't be her only memories 

and they aren't  

but they are easier to remember