We Were the Kind of Couple by Lucy Adkins

We Were the Kind of Couple  |  Lucy Adkins

We were the kind of couple who
walked down the street, hands
in each others’ back pockets. We
stayed up late and steamed up
car windows. And when our friends
counseled caution, time, a longer
than a three month’s engagement,
we thought they were crazy. We
knew what we knew and felt what
we felt. (Of course we were young.)

When it was time to fight
we fought, and when it was time
to make up, we did. Once in a while
we gave each other the silent treatment –
two cars headed straight for the headlights
of the other. It was always me who
swerved first, and I hated that,
wanting to stand my ground. To win.

In high school Driver’s Ed,
we were to keep a scrapbook of
newspaper clippings – of car crashes
which seemed so prevalent at that time:
cars hurtling off embankments,
colliding with semis, cars crashing
into the tonnage of trains. We were to be
stunned into safety, I suppose, all the young
lives lost. I wanted to live and be
happy, happy, so I swerved.

About the Author:

Lucy Adkins’ poetry has appeared in many journals and anthologies as well as former poet laureate Ted Kooser’s column, American Life in Poetry. Her latest two collections, Two-Toned Dress and A Crazy Little Thing, were winners of Nebraska Book Awards for Poetry in 2021 and 2023. She’s also co-written two books of non-fiction, Writing In Community and The Fire Inside, and has been a writing workshop leader for many years.