I have no attention span.

Someday, this might turn into song lyrics.

---


It was a long time ago, best of friends
Playing make-believe and believing
Nothing would ever end. But you moved away
to a different place and I couldn’t follow you.

High school, still in our small town
Playgrounds long gone, leaves fallen on the ground.
On to college, the memory of you surrounding me
Adrift in the air, I think of summers when we played.

Your fragrance haunts me, years after you’d gone
And I had moved away and moved on.
Walking in my new city, my heart stops at the crosswalk.
It’s turning the corner, your hair, your face.

Why don’t I reach out and say hello?
Passing silent in the night
Walking fast along the street
I just want to stop and say
You’re the girl that I’m supposed to know.

I follow you, for a while, to be sure
High heeled shoes lead my heart to your door.
You go inside and turn on the light, staring out
Before drawing the blinds against the world.

It’s you and the doorbell is right over there
I’d push the button if I thought you’d care.

Why don’t I reach out and say hello?
Passing silent in the night
Walking fast along the street
I just want to stop and say
You’re the girl that I’m supposed to know.


And don’t I still love you?
You’re the girl that I’m supposed to know
And you don’t even know I’m there.
Why don’t I reach out and say hello?
Passing silent in the night
Walking fast along the street
I just want to stop and say
Goodbye, good night, girl I no longer know.

----

This was much choppier than I had wanted. I got distracted after (almost) every line I pounded out. It was also a challenge to not have a specific incident as reference for the subject matter; I kind of picked and chose and formed a composite. Some of it is patently untrue. I don't know why, but I was thinking about how strange it is to bump into people, especially when you are somewhere you would not expect that person to be. I like to think I saved the narrator from an awkward and disappointing confrontation here.

I'm hesitant to call these song lyrics. Maybe they're in some sort of hybrid state? I haven't really jumped into full-on lyrics, but I like to think that I've started to shape the poem around the conventional bones of verses and chorus and funky bridge/ending-chorus-that-isn't-quite-the-same. It's hard to do lyrics with no music in mind! Can you tell I was listening to Coldplay as as I puttered? I was going to parody them, but I'm a not-so-secret sucker for their songs. Also, I imagine it would be difficult to make a parody that was more serious than what I might normally do. It would be more of an homage than a pastiche, really. (Frankly, I'd rather do something completely original and serious than a serious take on someone else's stuff.)

And now, a short list.

Possibilities for parodies:
1. Exerciser (Womanizer by the infamous Britney Spears): a song about gyms and fitness and women who engage in these activities.

2. Eighteen Gays (18 Days by Saving Abel): ...doesn't the title cover it all? Possibly about eighteen men the narrator has dated, possibly a song about how he has eighteen gay friends and therefore cannot possibly hate gay people.

3. Something to the tune of Hit Me With Your Best Shot (ala Pat Benatar)

That's all I've got right now.

~Later