"Recess" - More Old Poetry

(Still image from "The Virgin Suicides")

I saw a shooting star tonight
and made a bet against its life,
a flash flood of childhood
over wood framed plastic slides,
the monkey bars flashing glittery grins
in the moonlight as my swing
creaks with every pendulum sway.

There’s the hopscotch spot where
my girlfriend used to hop
and the place where I played tag,
the tetherball pole
an ollie ollie oxen-free.

Cooties held a better fate
since a kiss was death those days.
I like to think that on some other playground
she swings and sings,
thinking about me and making
her own shooting-star wagers.