Twenty years ago, I wrote an unsigned love poem to a girl I barely knew. I told Brianna, among other things, that life was a blaze of magnificence, that she made it even brighter, and that someday I would spend every day with the prettiest girl in the world.
When she read the poem she got goose bumps, smiled from ear to ear, and daydreamed about the gentleman behind the poetic prose. She showed it to her sister who sighed and said, “How romantic! I wish someone would write me a poem like that.” Then she showed it to her parents. Her mom smirked, but her dad frowned and said, “Don’t waste your time on a foolish boy hiding behind a silly poem.” Finally, she let her new boyfriend read it. In a grim voice he said, “Let me know when you find out who wrote it, because I’d like to give him a piece of my mind!”
Despite reactions ranging from enthusiasm to aggravation, she kept the poem and still has it in her possession today, two decades later. Her younger brother, Jose, recently found it neatly folded and tucked between two pages of an old photo album she keeps in her den.
I know all of this because [Read more…]