POEM - Did I Write That?

Vern wanted a new journal

I remembered one I had

So I dug through my box

The one with my old stuff in it

Where I stow the memories

The keepsakes that trigger thoughts

I found the book I wanted

I also found the book I wasn't looking for

It was my journal from high school

Turns out I was dedicated

More so than I recalled

I was also cheesy and sentimental

Despite how I wish I really was

The way we talk to ourselves

It is a funny thing

This little conversation I would have

Each day I wrote

To some future me

Or posterity of me

Imagining how to say

All the things I want to say

So that they are understood

Worthwhile of revisiting

For someone outside of me

Then I read about a visit to friends

Or the dance I went to

The people I met

The activity at church

A visit to scout camp

Even simple activities

A swim in the neighbor’s pool

A sunburn or a hurt back

Nothing at the time

But now it fascinates me

I think Oh yeah! That day!

Then the picture fills in

Suddenly all the details

Flood in and assemble

That time the other Aaron and I

Went to KXCI

Got a tour of the station

Hung out with Roger

Dreamed about being DJs

Or the summer I flew to San Diego

Hung out with Burg

Bought the Depeche Mode tape

Listened to Somebody on the porch

The dock sounds in the song

Meshing perfectly with the noises of Carlsbad

Passing by below

Or that Valentines dance

When I met a girl

Made a connection

Had a minor make-out

And wrote the most awful entry

Teenage boys are so dumb

And I was no exception

And the kiss of girl numbs the brain

And the journal records it all

The foolish and the mundane

The awkward and the precious