October fell in early July,
And it shattered in the form of memories.

We drove to Tennessee
You 18, just graduated,
Your girlfriend, the same.
I was 13, naïve

We drove to Tennessee
And I say “we”
Because I wanted to be just like you.

We drove to Tennessee
With 3 CDs
For 2 days
And 2 of those were Queen.

“It was summer”
And thank God for the AC.
The cool air
Made my un-cool comments
More room temperature.

Your girlfriend
Who became you wife
And my best friend
Listened to me
And laughed
And nothing else mattered to me.

We drove to Tennessee
And when we got there
“hey hey” was the sound track of the moment.

We drove to Tennessee
And I can’t remember how long we stayed
Which room I slept in
But other things from that summer
Became “a part of me”.

The 4th of July
Cracked with Pyrotechnics
And pop cans
And beer bottles
And thunder
And soon we found our selves
“caught in the rain.”

You were both 18
Grown
Mature
And all of this was demonstrated
By a dancing, and galloping
Through puddles,
And sheets
And drops of rain
With all of the other teenagers who weren’t 13.

I stayed inside
Warm, dry, and miserable.
My youth displayed
By a can of sprite
Dry socks
And too much eyeliner.

You all started chanting,
As if God himself had asked you what you wanted.
“Keep it coming!”
And I went to bed early.

The next day
Just like the sky
Things became clear.
We 3 turned into
You 2
And I.

You two went off,
With all the other teenagers who weren’t 13,
And I stayed behind,
Played with the children,
And went “walking” by myself.

It was summer,
If not evident by the calendar
Then the heat gave it away.

The next next day
You 2 were still gone
And I was left to be pitied.

Sympathy snaked its way
Into my three blueberry pancakes
Made just for me.
Into the play station
Where I played out dated games
When others wanted the tv.
On to the receipts
Of the clothes,
The earrings,
The movie ticket
Bought just for me
And just like me
They had people trying to get rid of them.

We drove home from Tennessee
With 3 CDs
And 2 days
And 2 of those were Queen.
The other
October Fall’s “A Season In Hell”

Guess which we listened to?
Guess which I remember.