by Corey Mesler
Weekend nights were for dates, or
sometimes one-on-one friends,
driving the backroads, listening to
Joe Cocker or Jefferson Airplane
on the radio. If I had a girlfriend
I was with her; my clan could
object. It was a time of win or
lose, sometimes win and lose. Nights
I remember, with Vicki or Robin or
Brooxie or Susan, with Cindy or
Sandra or Gloria, where all I would
wish was to hold and be held, feel
their fingers as close to my scrotum
as bravery allowed; feel their nipples
get hard through blouse and bra. I
wouldn’t be a teen again on a bet —
but, man, those lips and that first
kiss, there are few things sweeter.
And all I can do is sing about them,
here in the final pages of the hymnal.
Corey Mesler has been published in numerous anthologies and journals including Poetry, Gargoyle, Five Points, Good Poems American Places, and New Stories from the South. He has published over 20 books of fiction and poetry. His newest novel, The Diminishment of Charlie Cain, is from Livingston Press. He also wrote the screenplay for We Go On, which won The Memphis Film Prize in 2017. With his wife he runs Burke’s Book Store (est. 1875) in Memphis.
