That Day

By Jesse Rude

 

Walking along the beach

A realization hit me

as her hand slid into mine.

Fitting perfectly, like a key and lock.

 

This strong and sure hold

was new, yet very familiar

almost as if I’ve been waiting for it my whole life.

 

Those piercing green eyes looking down at me

She looked at me with patience,

waiting for me figure it out.

She had been there all along,

just waiting for the last puzzle pieces of my certainty to fall into place.

 

I actually enjoy writing poetry, whether it is for a class or in my free time. In most of my poems, I like to write about a general theme but not make the writing itself literal or too explicit. I like to leave some of the meaning/interpretation up to the reader. In this poem I am, literally, walking along the beach with a girl and a realization hits me that she was waiting until I figured out that I liked her more than a friend. I did write this poem with the intent that the character who talks in first person was me, but the character could also be a made-up character. I never walked along the beach with that girl, but I wrote that specific scene because it could happen. This poem allowed me to experiment with my feelings and explore my sexuality through the character on the date at the beach.