I went out with Irwin Ames
Who was Joe’s best friend
Joe my secret love
Puppy love they said
For I was twelve
And he a medical student.
I loved him
The day I saw him cry
Sitting there on the curb
His puppy dead
Struck by a car.
The summer I was sixteen
I purposefully passed his house
Coming home from
My first day of work
When I wore my mother’s dress
And seemed so confident
Feeling bold to speak to Joe
Who was standing outside
On his front stoop
And I stopped to tell him
About my job
When Irwin pulled up
In his ’52 Ford.
We bantered
Joe made it seem
I was a college student
Irwin called that night
And we went out
On our first date
Sixty-four years ago.
by Florence Ames
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