Plus One
It sounds so positive
addition rather than subtraction
yet as the add-on you are
the one hanging onto the arm
of the real family-member or friend.
If you are the girlfriend
you probably feel
you are being put to the test.
Are you good enough for him?
Better pass up that fourth champagne.
If you’re the boyfriend passing
as friend, keep your mouth shut
and hands to yourself.
Dance solo. Get to know his people.
Outing him is not your choice to make.
You might be just a friend
which could either free you up
to get a little tipsy as you attempt
to loosen up those stiff smile muscles.
At least you’re not home alone. Again.
If few can remember your name on the actual day
imagine their puzzlement when they
stumble across your photo thirty years later.
Louise Kantro, retired teacher, bridge player, and cat-lover, volunteers as a CASA (advocate for foster children). She has published poetry and prose in such journals as Quercus Review, the new renaissance, SLAB, The Chariton Review, South Loop Review, Caesura, Cloudbank, Monterey Poetry Review, Rushing Through the Dark, and Doomer Anthology. Her latest projects are scanning family photos and writing poems about political and social issues.
It sounds so positive
addition rather than subtraction
yet as the add-on you are
the one hanging onto the arm
of the real family-member or friend.
If you are the girlfriend
you probably feel
you are being put to the test.
Are you good enough for him?
Better pass up that fourth champagne.
If you’re the boyfriend passing
as friend, keep your mouth shut
and hands to yourself.
Dance solo. Get to know his people.
Outing him is not your choice to make.
You might be just a friend
which could either free you up
to get a little tipsy as you attempt
to loosen up those stiff smile muscles.
At least you’re not home alone. Again.
If few can remember your name on the actual day
imagine their puzzlement when they
stumble across your photo thirty years later.
Louise Kantro, retired teacher, bridge player, and cat-lover, volunteers as a CASA (advocate for foster children). She has published poetry and prose in such journals as Quercus Review, the new renaissance, SLAB, The Chariton Review, South Loop Review, Caesura, Cloudbank, Monterey Poetry Review, Rushing Through the Dark, and Doomer Anthology. Her latest projects are scanning family photos and writing poems about political and social issues.
