Imagine feeling something one time, and that’s it.
No mulling it over, no rehashing and regurgitating,
no regretting and redoing it in our heads. Imagine
talking things over once, and then looking ahead to dinner,
or having our feelings hurt and then skipping off to freeze-tag
like we could when we were kids, when we were still
generous and carefree and forgiving,
the wind in our hair, sharing our gum.
We looked back
only to squeal with delight
at who was chasing us, as the streetlights came on
and our moms called us home. We fell asleep still talking
in our twin beds, staring at our Wonder Woman posters
and stars glued to the ceiling, suspending us in space.
Imagine that could be enough.
© BARB REYNOLDS
Published in Roanoke Review December, 2018
This poem may not be reproduced without the author’s permission.