The Creativity Well
Those Pangs of First Love
April 02, 2023 — Poem a Day: a B-movie Poem
Not Your Stereotypical Teenage Love Story
The moon hung low in the sky
and was brighter than the welder’s
arc my daddy used to use. The air
was chilly. Like the deep freezer
at Mo’s Butcher’s Shop. Tommy Joe
swaggered down the street. His cronies
Kenny and Lennie are on either side. Three
teenage boys playing grown men
on a Saturday night — big men from
college school. Linda Lou pretend
to swoon as he walked by. Tonya shook
her head and yelled, “Woah! Wait.”
Looking around she realized everyone
stopped — eerie silence descended on the
street. She visibly gulped, took a breath,
and began to sing — off-key:
Who do you think you are swinging those hips?
What’s up with the blinking of your eyes?
When are ya gonna stop all your lies?
How can I convince you not to trust those lips?