I suppose most guys never forget
the first girl they kiss
It’s an important passage in one’s
life and mine was in Youngstown, Ohio
Where snow turned black from the steel
mills in just a few hours and blizzards
That brought the snow blew across Ohio
with cold wind that made you wish
For those hot, sweaty summer days when
it was perfect to be at the ball park in a
T-shirt and jeans, a cold Coke and a hot dog
in either hand watching Herb Score on the mound
Throwing pills past the hitter and Rocky Colavito
the idol of every Ohio kid who knew anything about baseball
Then that terrible line drive off Gil McDougal’s bat
that essentially ended Score’s career, followed by
Colavito’s trade to the Tigers putting a curse
on the Indians that even moving from Municipal Stadium
Could not undo, and just as suddenly as the shot that
took out Score, you break up with the girl of the first kiss
So my best friend moves right in and gets an even
better memory of first sex
It keeps going from there, I move out of town
ripped from everyone like the earth splitting
Forced to recover in a new town with a new girlfriend
While the Indians pursue their first World Series win since
1948
“The First Girl I Kiss” appeared in King of the Jungle, Poems by Zvi A. Sesling
(Ibbetson Street Press, 2010)