Boyfriend and Girlfriend

by Michael Estabrook

In high school we went steady some of the time, you wearing my ring with the “M” on it, but mostly we were simply steady dates, officially boyfriend and girlfriend. Then onto college, attending different colleges, you needed your independence, your freedom from me, freedom to date other boys. Yet, for me you were always my girlfriend, and for you, surprisingly during all that time I was still your boyfriend. “I always considered you my boyfriend,” you said to me. Then after 2 years of this loose situation, like live wires jiggling in the wind, half-way through our Junior year I pinned you, something bigger than going steady, more serious, college versus high school. But not as serious as when I asked you finally to marry me, becoming your fiancée, and then after that your husband, certainly the best title of all.

6S

Michael Estabrook, like a surfer searching for the perfect wave, is a poet prowling for the perfect poem.