Poem in Your Post Blog Hop - "To My Twenties"

To My Twenties

How lucky that I ran into you
When everything was possible
For my legs and arms, and with hope in my heart
And so happy to see any woman—
O woman! O my twentieth year!
Basking in you, you
Oasis from both growing and decay
Fantastic unheard of nine- or ten-year oasis
A palm tree, hey! And then another
And another—and water!
I’m still very impressed by you. Whither,
Midst falling decades, have you gone? Oh in what lucky fellow,
Unsure of himself, upset, and unemployable
For the moment in any case, do you live now?
From my window I drop a nickel
By mistake. With
You I race down to get it
But I find there on
The street instead, a good friend,
X— N—, who says to me
Kenneth do you have a minute?
And I say yes! I am in my twenties!
I have plenty of time! In you I marry,
In you I first go to France; I make my best friends
In you, and a few enemies. I
Write a lot and am living all the time
And thinking about living. I loved to frequent you
After my teens and before my thirties.
You three together in a bar
I always preferred you because you were midmost
Most lustrous apparently strongest
Although now that I look back on you
What part have you played?
You never, ever, were stingy.
What you gave me you gave whole
But as for telling
Me how best to use it
You weren’t a genius at that.
Twenties, my soul
Is yours for the asking
You know that, if you ever come back.

                           - Kenneth Koch

SO wonderful.  All you creativity-boosting folks:  Why not try your own hand at a poem or a letter written directly to a decade - or even a year - in your life, as if it were a person?

Whether or not you're in the mood to create, please go ahead and post a poem, then link back here so we can all enjoy them!


Have a splendid summery weekend, all!

MFB,
L

p.s.  No blog or website?  Post a poem in the comments here!

p.p.s. Join us for more creative shenanigans and a great book discussion at ActionReaders.com!