By Misti Velvet Rainwater
Date: 4 June 1999

Private

he was endlessly endearing
     my sweet friend
        in need
 younger than me
       by half a decade
still, quite the knight
     in gleaming armor
 
 he called me and missed me
      three times
 so when we finally
    got together
it was magic science serendipity accidental ecstasy the d.j. playing my request
   fireworks out of season a reason to kiss every mirror a perfect hot caramel sundae from McDonald's a rainbow at the end of a really long rain a train ride at the zoo my favorite shade of the color blue....

   Venus winked down at
    gorgeous little greedy little
      girly girl me
     and the moon could have been
        a gumball in my mouth
  I chewed and I chewed and the sugar
            was infinite

  we danced
  we kissed
  we walked down my favorite
     street in the world
    holding hands
 and I felt like a girl in 1942
     with my soldier boy
         home on leave

I grabbed a pink plastic lei an he placed it
       around my neck
because I was his
       and the night
           was ours
it was icky like that
    and juicy
       like that
ill-destined beyond
    a shadow
      of a doubt
but with all the ingredients
   of true love 
the kind that inspires
  craziness and sacrifice
    with no regards
      to social values

in his motel room
in the early hours
of the next day
I knew he thought
he would get laid for sure
luckily I was bleeding like a stuck pig
so instead of a caution to the wind I know I'll Never See You Again fuck
we had a caution to the wind god I wish I Could See You Again talk
about where we were born
and what we liked
      and for five minutes
          maybe more
        we didn't talk
           at all
    we just looked deep into
        each other's eyes
          looking past
          looking for
         and I think maybe
         he found something
          he liked or needed
            because he touched my face
                   so gently
      with his right hand
           and when we fell asleep
          his arms were
            around me