I don’t go to school reunions.
I prefer one on one encounters
to large gathering of classmates
mirroring the society of high school
which I could do without.
After the latest school shooting,
I have been thinking of classmates
I haven’t seen in over 50 years
and realizing how little
I knew about their lives
during the long years
of our shared desks
lined up in rows
front to back and
side to side
with some extraordinary
teachers that unknowingly
pointed the way for me
during that time of my coming of age.
This need to reach out to
strangers who appear familiar
and who I remember
few stories of that time
is perplexing and
will pass with time.
How do I piece together
how I got to where I am now?
I don’t go to school reunions
Me, either! I’ve never had much interest in it. I think it’s because of this: “How do I piece together/how I got to where I am now?” You seem to express a sense of the surreal looking back on that age which is even further in the past psychologically than in time. I completely get that. Good job!
Thank you for your kind thoughts. So many unanswered questions!
I love the tension here, and the way personal choices are rendered.
Thank you. This is another iteration of a poem I have been trying to write for quite a while.