Posted in Unexpected

Vows

Posted on by tq1695

Although our lives bisected segments of present
and an oblique angle of past
I didn’t know Robert well.
Only the basic stats
mathematics student – well above average
keen cyclist
head boy at high school
a steady girlfriend when young men were promiscuous
or wanting to be.
Claire was her name
they were
about the future.

Life after study.
I hadn’t seen him for a year
we were both at the same cycle shop
both buying parts
me for repairs
he for a trip to the United States.

Six weeks in the Austral winter
pedalling the Pacific Northwest
envy expressed itself
my last chance he said
said opportunity would cease after this.
Presumption asked when was the wedding
No. Not getting married
going to seminary
to study for the priesthood.

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Author:

Most of my life has been spent on the bench, occasionally called into the game by extravagance or attenuation. Waiting has turned a loner into a recorder - nondescript and inconsequential, more not noticed than overlooked - the non-vantage point of children not yet considered old enough to understand. Orphaned Islands (Un)poetry is a lifetime of picking anecdotes up and not throwing them away. Stories collected like odds and ends placed in a box in the basement, the garage, the garden shed - uncertain as to what their use might be but knowing that one day there might be one.