Favorite Memory

(for my mom ... today--this is a revised version of poem I gave her for Mother's Day 2009)

Lifting 5 and 8 pound dumbbells
in my bedroom the summer of my college graduation and wedding
I teach you about lateral raises as the Violent Femmes “Add it Up”

Why can’t I get just one kiss?
Why can’t I get just one kiss?

Raising the 8 pounders out to your sides, straight armed
you are stronger than you look
deltoids softly curving over your shoulders

Your eyes meet mine in the dresser mirror as kiss is replaced by another, more vulgar, word

Feigned shock turns to laughter
Nothing surprises you
after years in student health
Growing Up a Good Time
condom water balloons and condom-wrapped cantaloupes

You were always the one who taught me the intended and suggestive
meanings of lyrics to my favorite songs.

As the music becomes more aggressive
weight-lifting gives way to dancing as dumbbells are pushed under the bed
and suddenly-light arms wave freely

We sing along—you learn the words quickly

Don’t shoot shoot shoot that thing at me!
Don’t shoot shoot shoot that thing at me!

We dance, jumping and thrashing
breathless with laughter
eyes closed as the guitar solo twangs and jangles to the quickening beat of the drums

We dance, primitively
light fixtures and window panes trembling above and below our rhythmic stomping

We dance
eyes opening, meeting again in my dresser mirror
cheeks flushed, girlish
blue eyes sparkling through laughing tears
we revel in this moment
and in each other