Elementary
by Larry Moore
She sat calmly with her light lunch and a book,
Simply engulfed in her own universe.
Someone dropped a plate in the distance,
She didn’t bother to look.
Every breath that she took seemed rehearsed—
But not at all in a boring way
It was all just a very calm sway
Her collarbone rising rhythmically,
Quietly heaving in contrast to the surrounding fray.
But,
She never smiled.
She let on smirks,
And then let them drift away.
Looked slightly amused,
But never appeared gay.
And
Never once smiled.
The movements of her hands were graceful,
Full of reserve
But her beauty spoke so loudly—
Increased its intensity as she mouthed each
And
Every
Word.
It seemed absurd.
How could such elegance not ever smile…
All the while
Giving slight smirks,
And snatching them away.
Looking slightly amused,
But never appearing gay.
And not smiling.
Not once.
Not during any of our sessions—
Because eventually
Her complexion
Became my obsession.
Like a beautiful infection.
Her being rejecting all of
My attempts at mental recession.
Resulting in stagnation
Of emotion within my reflection.
Perplexing it was.
So I got serious.
Took it back to
Middle school
Matter of fact
Elementary tactics
For I was in love.
And one fatal day
I decided to go ahead and display
This insane affection
In an unrivalled way
Tore notebook paper quickly
And to the quick beat
Of my hearts intensity
Wrote and drew rapidly
Not actually contemplating success
Just concentrating and stressed
As I blessed the page with
A few words
And a total of twelve lines
Arranged by
Three sets
Each of them consisting of
Four of those lines intertwined
Short and Sweet
Simple and –
To the point
Upon approaching the table
All I could think was
“Damn I’m a foo”
Finally sitting opposite her beauty
It was confidence that I tried to exude
As I pushed the note across the table real smooth
She was probably waiting for an explanation
But
I was stuck
Air roughly lodged in my throat
And
Her hand
Seemed to float
As she accepted my petition for intimacy
That was This Note…
And after staring momentarily
—
She looked up at me
So very intently—
Withdrew a pen
And set that petition in plain sight
Me having to fight with my legs to
Prevent their instinctive flight
So sure of the ensuing plight
But she didn’t write or mark
In the four intertwined lines next to the word no
And
The box next to maybe
She decided to forgo
When she reached the yes box
She checked the response
And actually showed her teeth
She smiled for me
And the love and smiles have been
Constant since then.