ONE HUNDRED QUESTIONS - NINETEEN SIXTY FIVE

ONE HUNDRED QUESTIONS
NINETEEN SIXTY FIVE


Remember when a smile
lit up your face?
When we passed in the hall
back in nineteen sixty five?

Bob Dylan was telling us
who we were –
what to do –
if we didn’t listen
we would all be dead

We sang, holding hands
as we pretended to be
Sonny and Cher –
“You’ve Got Me Babe.”

Remember me hitch hiking
in front of RPI after spending
money to watch you instead
of Sonny and Cher –

Rocky and I were seating in
the balcony, front row, as I
peered through binoculars
watching you, listening to
“I’ve Got You Babe. . .”

No plans to get home
knowing your father would
be waiting out front of RPI
sitting behind the wheel of
his Cutlass – you weren’t
old enough to drive

It was a winter day when you
received your permit, drove
down to Avenue A, only
sixteen – it was daylight and
you had this old beaten up car

You used the front door –
anyone new, used the front door
then you would shake hands
with the family as they left to
listen in the kitchen

We sat side by side on a red
velvet couch – soon to be given
to my uncle in California –
I was comfortable, rocking in
our rocker from Vermont

Spent hours asking questions
I interviewed you for the first
time -
“Seventeen Magazine.”

One hundred questions
I asked –
One hundred answers
you told me –
Learning you desires
what – really - turned you on
James Bond
Double 07
and that double breasted
navy coat
you found in the attic
you had to say girls with
blue eyes and dark hair –
with that smile. . .

Mother listened from
the kitchen – we lived in
a city flat, called Goose
Hill – but, Schenecatdy
had nicknames for
neighborhoods, and boys,
men – they all had nick
names –

As I continued asking you
questions, I continued to
rock back and forth – not
knowing this would be the
first interview –

Presidential candidates
would take your place on
different chairs.
But, that was nineteen
sixty five – thirty years
before I dared to ask big
shots – questions about
their thoughts –
even one had more then
one hundred questions. . .

Nancy Duci Denofio
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@2011