Another Hit of Poetry

Normandy for a New Generation of Lovers

It's only 50 degrees on this night
In October in a small New England town
Where a party of local, strangers mostly,
Have congregated
To discuss love and life
And laugh at the prospects of being in their twenties, really

A time for happiness of living in the moment
While life works itself out around you
Decisions can be made
To determine your future
The thirties and forties, anyway, the nearest of futures
But who cares enough to think
That far ahead
When the drink in your hand
Is half-empty
And these hipsters are all half-full of shit

We find each other
From across the room
With knowing glances
Of what's to come next
A brief encounter becomes
A long-drawn conversation
Out on the back porch overlooking the bay
Where the exchange of mundane details
As to who we are, what we do,
Where we want to be
Suddenly shifts to what we see
What we are witnessing
Standing together, hands grasp the railing
Then grasp each other
You say, "Can we take a walk"
I oblige, with my hands still in yours

We find refuge from the party
Underneath an old willow tree
Whose branches droop as if they've lost hope
And can't hold themselves up any longer
We let the grass be our blanket
As you hint at what you want
And all I want is you

And so it begins
With a simple kiss
Like two fish breaching the surface, parched
We layer ourselves
With the warmth of each other's bodies
The sounds of the party in the distance,
Dissolve
And all we can hear is heart beats
And the sound of bare skin on bare skin
The friction, oh, let me in

We continue this carnivorous dance
For the good part of a half hour
The faint sound of an Arcade Fire song plays
As if just on cue, on our command,
As the soundtrack to Rebellion (Lies) we create

And when our act of romance is over
We lay beside each other
Staring up into the cloudless, black sky
Stars scattered all across
And stretching on and on for miles and miles and miles and...
I take time to name a constellation after you
You smile, touch my thigh, and sigh
"Will I see you again or was this just a party favor?"
I return your smile
Clutch your hand, squeeze it tight
Brush the hair from your face, romantically, intimately
Breathe in your perfumed scent
"Sigh no more"

I want to fall asleep beside you
And wake up to your face
Your warm body
Your hands on my skin
I can't get enough of you
Even if I have all of you
I still crave more
As if you had more to give
I think you would give more than just a simple offering

You are so much more
Than just the lonely girl
Who crashed the party
To me
You are the captain
Of my ship
As it sets sail
Toward uncharted waters

You're the only map I'm ever gonna need
Leaving this sailor, girl,
To discover
A new, healthy land