Touching Boys
Blushing cheeks and fluttered lashes,
cotton frocks with satin sashes.
That first dance, paired with a boy,
equal parts of fear and joy.
Sweaty palms and faltering feet.
A different style, each boy you meet.
Shyness, then––a major dose.
Terror he’ll hold you too close,
then, affronted when he doesn’t.
Wrong when he was and when he wasn’t
romantic in that pre-teen way,
as forward as that time of day
permitted, with your parents there.
Beaded foreheads, scraggly hair.
School dances never missed.
Holding hands, but never kissed.
Except one time, when cheek-to-cheek,
that butterfly kiss, furtive and meek.
Eyes met for just a moment, then,
to celebrate your mutual sin.
Oh the terrors and the joys
Of school dances and touching boys!
For: https://lindaghill.com/2020/02/14/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-15-2020/
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 
Good one, your poem refreshing my school days😄.
LikeLike
Thanks, Vidya.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a great poem! Oh the embarrassment of it all at that age!
LikeLike
I know. That was the only boy-girl party we had during the seventh and eighth grade and I held it in my basement. I believe it as the first time we got the boys to dance with us.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My face was permanently red at that age. I was terribly gawky and shy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Poignant memories
LikeLike
Takes me right back to this: https://derrickjknight.com/2012/07/04/no-one-forgets-a-good-teacher/
The second paragraph is the relevant one. 🙂
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Stevie Turner and commented:
I do like Judy Dykstra-Brown’s poetry. This one conjures up cringe-making memories of when I was a shy, gawky teenager who had been to an all-girls’ school and had no brothers. When boys started showing an interest my face would blush blood red with the embarrassment of it all. Oh, those heady days of boys and young love! Little did I know they were only after one thing…
LikeLike
How fun! Such innocence.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is perfect. Captures the innocence of those first feelings.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Perfectly described! You brought me right back to my days of innocence. Well done!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Susan..
LikeLike
Oh gosh, you have captured that period of life so well! One of those reasons we say we’d never want to relive our teen years.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lovely 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wonderful poem!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Geraldine.
LikeLike
I liked this as reblogged over on Stevie Turner’s site. For some reason, the early Beatles “Saw Her Standing There” is banging around in my head as the young boy’s side of this –
LikeLike