Saturday, May 29, 2010

One-Off Dates at Keeseville High

Cheri La Mar was a bridge too far.
How to go see her without a car?
She decided to stay in town at Peg's
Where I could go get her on two legs.
A schoolboy question: How to date her?
Well, I took her to the movie theater.
There we watched something in the dark.
Her bright hair gave off a golden spark.
Next day: Did you go all the way?
All the way where? Yeah, I walked her home.

Christine Sobol was ideal and noble.
We sat and watched TV on her sofa.
We caught the news on Huntley-Brinkley
Before we went out, her pert nose wrinkly
In consternation at perplexing matters.
This led, I'm afraid, to no talky patter.
We went for a walk in the warm Spring air,
A slight breeze stirring her ash blonde hair.
Then: Same dumb question: How to date her?
Same dumb answer: the downtown theater.
We watched something so censureably stupid
It nearly put her to sleep. It was insipid!
We walked up the hill home. She suppressed a yawn.
She went in and, I'm sure, passed out 'til dawn.
I failed the test of how to date her,
I arrived at a method to sedate her.

With Lucille Blouin, I might've been a shoe-in.
She could've helped a green lad clue-in.
A boy like moi, who was not the smartest,
Might've learned a lot from this make-out artist!
No, put your hand here. No, kiss like this.
But I got no chance at one button on her blouse.
Her father kept her locked-up in his house.
Once when we arranged to meet, furtive,
On the back porch at her friend's, my motive
Was to relieve myself of ignorance -- with bliss.
My God, Lucille could kiss! I stayed an ignoramus.

Julie Anderson, merry eyes handsome
Over freckled nose, her smile gladsome,
Norman Rockwell pigtails, raven bangs,
Loving gazes, a voice that rang
Like a tinkling bell, she was a dream
Sweeter than ice cream. I surely miss her,
Though I never had a chance to kiss her.
We once went to see Sen. Kennedy.
("Bobby," I think, was even shorter than Julie.)
When he did speak, in a high-pitched squeak,
Of ideals of service --this pipsqueak
Who was planning to be the President--
He flashed us his smile, all Pepsodent.
Julie and I smiled back, then we went
For cokes and fries at a luncheonette.


There were others.
That ginger kid, Cathy Burns,
Who went straight where the road turns.
One taught me to dance, Kathleen Young,
So I could take her to the prom.
Mary La Fountain, IQ high as a mountain,
Also a prom date, we stayed up so late.
Once Lil Jill Blaise took me to her place
Where we sat to schmooze and chat.
We babysat the cat ... And on and on.
There were a few others, names I can't remember.
The theme of these one-off dates is ... Nothing!

Nothing happened. 'Cept inside my pate!
There I imagined I'd be suave on dates.
One day I'd be a sophisticate.
I'd pour wine. I'd dress for dinner.
I'd talk of fine things. I'd be a winner.

Now that I am out-of-date,
Soon to be sixty-three,
These reminiscences re-occur to me.


The Keeseville Central High School Class of 1965 had its 45th annual
reunion on July 17, 2010.

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