“Intrigue”
He stood by the slide
Gaze directed to that girl
She stands and blushes
This poem is about a day where my siblings and I finally pestered my mom in taking us to the park. We all were in elementary school and this must have been when I was in the early stages of puberty (fourth grade?). I remember having fun, running across the Mary Walcott playground from the jungle gym, to the slides, the monkey bars, the swings.
Then a small group of European immigrant children-perhaps Polish, or Russian, not sure, who came onto the playground with their father. I don’t know where my mom is at this point but I remember seeing him. His gaze just hit me and I don’t know why. All I know is that time stood still and he was more than welcome to look at me. I blushed but I remembered my brother and sister. I ran to catch up to them while he stood far on the opposite side.
Eventually he tried to talk to me, asked if we could play tag. So both groups partook in this game but I think we took too much liberty in just being able to have our hands touch each others’ backs and arms in the goal of winning not only the game, as well as erratically run across the rubber asphalt in asthmatic joy, but our desire. Surely one can say a fourth grader does not know what they want, and it was all done in child’s play, but I really felt otherwise. I saw a boy, despite his culture, and what his dad did, as soon as he realized what was going on and angrily told his children to leave, looked at me as a person. Intrigued by who I was developing into, and what I like. I never really liked “white” boys, I mean I was “married” to Henry Lam in Kindergarten (to my parents’ delight and laughter every time they recount the story) and after him, I only had crushes on “my people”, Afro-Caribbean and West Indians. But this guy......we stood in that moment.....able to be part of another environment......and now forever held together by mystery in that time.
I never saw him again.
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