Diane played Roxanne to my silent Cyranno
as I sculpted unspoken words of love on my fifth grade desk
ignoring the teacher’s lesson about another Italian lover
who got lost trying to impress Queen Isabella
like Columbus
I was lost---in thought
knowing that Diane like the world was not flat.
I was not attracted to Diane because
she had the biggest breasts in fifth grade
I was a boy of substance
I was drawn to Diane because
she had the only breasts.
damn you sweet muse of love !
why didn’t you warn me while I was still an innocent that
Diane would be the first-
but not the last girl to break my heart?
I could have saved a King’s ransom on Valentine’s Day cards
and an alimony check or two.
the romantic remember the first kiss
I remember the moment the feeling for my first love died
Diane-my sweet Madonna with the tight white sweater
with all the unthinking callousness of a metermaid placing a
parking ticket on a car while the owner helplessly watches
put her finger into her nose and examined
a buried treasure as if it was the gold Columbus never found
the bell rung
my life would never be the same.