natalie

natalie, natalie
your darkhaired spell
hangs in the vicinity
of your name
and grows on me
as you stand, at less than 5 feet,
for all the natalies i got to see
or wanted to

longer, closer.

na-ta-lie. na-ta-lie.
raced-a-cross-the-boat-dock.
to-meet-in-com-ing-ka-yak.

(after consulting with daddy, lance.)

"hi, nice out? i'm natalie."

accosted me -- me, already in trance
awaiting
natalie's imminent arrival
like cosmonauts do
await the bread and salt
welcoming crew
in kazakhstan
too oppressed by the gravity of it all
to move.

it's not every day (well, maybe every other)
that marek meets
raven flying women
of impeccable beauty
and articulate seriousness
and perception
...into fractions, "drawing" and jewels...
and what leg, what bangs!
...who've not noticed themselves yet...

"well, what do you expect! third grade!
although, actually, i'm in fourth now..."

third grade? come on! you're already
taking fractions
i'm forgetting mine...
what's 9 into 31? what's left over?

talking of majoring in college
in "dancing" -- i can see --
but isn't life all a dance, at 9,
for most women?
hope you still think so at 18.

and "jewelry", describing rubies and diamonds,
listening to some newly met hairy
("he seems really nice, dad")
speak in strangely flavored tongues
of amber, elektron, and the baltic sea.

"how far is your poland from sweden?"
about 200 miles
"oh, i could ride there on my bicycle"
no one has tried...

third grade, my, me, mine.
you are exacting
and beautiful,
my little raven
oh, talk
please talk
talk some more to me
about clouds and airplanes
and "flickering" stars ("why do they?")

good luck, natalie, and good time
at the "gnaw bone summer camp"
your first, and for a whole two weeks.

"thank you!"

great. now i get to miss you...

Copyright © Marek Lugowski
14 June 1990
Lake Monroe, Indiana

"Chicago 1993"
"at three and one time only"
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