A poetic memoir of my first time drinking.
transforms the deep drainage ditch by the side of the road
into the perfect hideaway
that same something turns the two of us
christie and me
from sedate sixteen-year-olds to giddy schoolgirls
tasting the forbidden air on our tongues, we both giggle
as we slide down six feet of scratchy pavement
to sit on the shelf jutting inexplicably
over the pipe's gaping mouth
i'm clutching a pink camo lunch box to my chest, trying
[and failing]
to muffle the rattling of the glass bottles inside
the sound grates across the cul-de-sac
but our suburb in the middle of nowhere is populated mostly
by the very young and their exhausted parents
no one is awake to hear
only the night sky bears witness to our mischief
rewarding our cleverness with a wash of loving moon-glow
though it is mid-july, the breeze sends goosebumps rippling
across our bare legs and arms
the slender boughs of leaning pine trees wave halfheartedly
toward us, occasionally grazing our cheeks with stiff needles
in an accidental caress
i lean back against the side of the ditch for a moment
its roughness scraping against my skin is oddly soothing
--like a mother's kiss, tiger-style
christie has been eying the lunch box
she takes it from me now, unzipping it
i accept the bottle she passes to me
[it is the fuller of the two]
and wrap its neck in my shirt to twist off the cap
my head tips back and i raise the bottle to my lips
wonder for less than a second what exactly this will feel like
take a cautious sip
most of the liquid shoots back out like a stubborn fountain
i hack and sputter
christie would be mocking me were she not also coughing
the drink ablaze within her stomach just like mine
our eyes meet
--hers green by day, mine blue
both reduced by the darkness to shadowy question marks--
and we burst into the uncontainable laughter of the young
and infinite
Words by SquidProQuo
Read 453 times
Written on 2011-11-21 at 18:09
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something about three in the morning
something about three in the morningtransforms the deep drainage ditch by the side of the road
into the perfect hideaway
that same something turns the two of us
christie and me
from sedate sixteen-year-olds to giddy schoolgirls
tasting the forbidden air on our tongues, we both giggle
as we slide down six feet of scratchy pavement
to sit on the shelf jutting inexplicably
over the pipe's gaping mouth
i'm clutching a pink camo lunch box to my chest, trying
[and failing]
to muffle the rattling of the glass bottles inside
the sound grates across the cul-de-sac
but our suburb in the middle of nowhere is populated mostly
by the very young and their exhausted parents
no one is awake to hear
only the night sky bears witness to our mischief
rewarding our cleverness with a wash of loving moon-glow
though it is mid-july, the breeze sends goosebumps rippling
across our bare legs and arms
the slender boughs of leaning pine trees wave halfheartedly
toward us, occasionally grazing our cheeks with stiff needles
in an accidental caress
i lean back against the side of the ditch for a moment
its roughness scraping against my skin is oddly soothing
--like a mother's kiss, tiger-style
christie has been eying the lunch box
she takes it from me now, unzipping it
i accept the bottle she passes to me
[it is the fuller of the two]
and wrap its neck in my shirt to twist off the cap
my head tips back and i raise the bottle to my lips
wonder for less than a second what exactly this will feel like
take a cautious sip
most of the liquid shoots back out like a stubborn fountain
i hack and sputter
christie would be mocking me were she not also coughing
the drink ablaze within her stomach just like mine
our eyes meet
--hers green by day, mine blue
both reduced by the darkness to shadowy question marks--
and we burst into the uncontainable laughter of the young
and infinite
Words by SquidProQuo
Read 453 times
Written on 2011-11-21 at 18:09
Save as a bookmark (requires login) Write a comment (requires login) Send as email (requires login) Print text
