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Damned Chemistry

 

Do you remember I used to sit next to you in biology class?
And I would study you rather than the texts.
Everything I gleaned about the human eye
Was from careful observation of yours.
I dissected your navy blue jumper
And weighed each breast in the palms of my mind
Ran my hands over your skin
And kept samples on slides
To examine under the microscope
Later.
And all I learned about reproduction was purely
From the thought of you
With me.

And do you remember during physics
I was always caught in your gravity?
Your mass would draw me closer
Than the teacher would allow
And I would spend most of the lesson
Outside
The Headmaster’s office.

I was always picked last in games
As I would simply stand and stare
Across the football field
To the tennis courts
And watch your thighs shimmer in the sun
Below that tiny blue skirt;
Your breasts like tennis balls
Fastened to heaven
With sports tape.
And I never took my eyes from you,
Ball in hand,
Bottom of the scrum.

In History I dug for evidence
Of my initials
Scrawled across your exercise books.
In R.E. I worshipped you alone,
Discounting all other options.
I imagined kissing you in French.
Worked out the odds of being yours in Maths.
And in geography
I would map out the contours of your body.
It was just my bloody luck
The only thing we didn’t have together
Was damned Chemistry.

◄ Prometheus and Andromeda

SHIT ON YOUR SHOES (a love poem) ►

Comments

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Nash

Sat 15th May 2010 09:43

Thanks, Francine!

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Francine

Fri 14th May 2010 22:10

This is fabulous!
Oh là là...
'I imagined kissing you in French.'

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Nash

Fri 14th May 2010 18:44

Thanks Ann - unfortunately, I think my adolescent lust never abated.

And thanks Banksy - sorry it brought back those memories! If it's any consolation, I had similar experiences, the classic - I never told you but...- Why not? was my drooling and staring not clue enough?!

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Ann Foxglove

Fri 14th May 2010 17:22

I really like this Nash. "And do you remember during physicsI was always caught in your gravity?" is brill. I like the way the poem combines a bit of adolescent lust with a real romantic element. (And just think, Banksy was still at school when he was 211! Ooops, where's me glasses!)

<Deleted User> (7212)

Fri 14th May 2010 12:30

Hi Nash - I really like this one - takes me back to my own (shitty) schooldays. When I was about 21 I was out on my own in a club in bolton & a couple of girls who I knew by sight (only) from school came up to me & unashamedly told me about how their little clique of 3 all used to fancy me - great, I thought - where were you when I needed a shag ? Anyway, I wasn't too put out as I knew that the object of my unrequited desires at that time had been one Lorna Robinson (awesome!) - then I remembered that the other member of this gang-of-three had been the divine Lorna !! ...if only I'd not been such a wuss & just asked.

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Nash

Thu 13th May 2010 10:29

Thank you A.E., really very touched by your comments. Much appreciated and very glad you enjoyed. Nash

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Anthony Emmerson

Thu 13th May 2010 10:11

Hi Nash,

I really enjoyed this read. Most of us will surely relate to the pain and anguish of unrequited love - especially first love, in that storm of adolescent confusion and hormone white-out. Even looking back from the distance of years, there is still something sad and so bittersweet about it.

I like the freshness of ideas here, the way you express them - simply and with humour. But I have to sdmit I did feel a little sad and wistful after reading it and reminiscing - which is exactly what a poem should do I guess - make one FEEL.

Best regards,
A.E.

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Nash

Wed 12th May 2010 13:40

Hi Kate, if only! as long as it wasn't chess club. Nash

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Kate Tym

Wed 12th May 2010 13:08

Ah lovely.I wish you'd had chemistry together and then you could have graduate to other things... some form of extra curricula activity me thinks. Kate

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Nash

Wed 12th May 2010 12:43

Thanks Cate...those were the days when unrequited love was fun, eh!

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Cate Greenlees

Wed 12th May 2010 11:01

Hi Nash, I enjoyed reading this... it captures the teenage angst situation so well! It was the same for us girls lusting after the captain of the school football team always on the sidelines and never given a second glance!!
Cate xx

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