Friday, January 12, 2024

I like the frivolity of this one. The long blank spaces suggest a youthful, breathless excitement over love. This poem was included in an issue of the Bennington Review that was devoted to the theme "Kissing in the Future." I think the writer, Allyson Young, did a good job putting a twist on the theme.  


Kissing My Future by Allyson Young

My first crush was on               light     but he was     never     long

I mooned over him          dying—

I had never been anywhere with a boy before             out at nighttime!

I wrote a list of the ones I wouldn’t mind going out with:

James Dean               and

Orlando Bloom.

We went to the country in one of those trucks with slatted wooden sides, filled with
matted hay     

it was a blast              in Vermont                    but it made my head go                    floaty

all this            

kissing                        my future!


I like the frivolity of this one. The long blank spaces suggest a youthful, breathless excitement over love. This poem was included in an is...