My First Kiss

Today I was thinking About my first kiss It’s really hard for me Because it was so long ago And to be brutally honest Drugs Have taken their toll On what is left of my memory It was back in the time Of building hot rods And cruising Main Street Which for me was Chester Ave. in Bakersfield, Calif. I was perhaps 13 Cruising the strip With a buddy of mine named Warren Though his last name eludes me Lost forever in the archives of dust At 13 I looked 18 which was a good thing Because the girls we met Bordered 18 And I do remember That I was scared to death One girl was ok The other was, “Oh my God” BEAUTIFUL And I latched onto her Like a junkyard dog Does a thief in the middle of the night And the one girl rode with Warren In his car And I rode with the other In her car And I suggested we drive Out to Hart Park We all sat together Drank some beer Smoked some pot Then her and I walked Down by the Kern River Near the spot where I Had watched my Mother drown And I told her the story And there in the moonlight Lost in the beauty Of her eyes She ask, “How old are you anyway” I wanted to say 18 I wanted to lie But she was so beautiful That all I could say Is that I was 13 I expected her to get so mad But instead She asked, “Have you ever even kissed a girl”? The answer was “No” And as burnt out as my memory is I will never forget The mischievous look In those beautiful eyes Like a lioness About to pounce on her prey How her lips Seemed as soft as a cloud And her skin Was like nothing I had ever touched And she took me away To a place I had never been She taught me How to love Far beyond my years And through all the years Known as the hell of my life She is the only person I only knew for a minute That I could never forget Written for John's Contest.