Honorable Mention in Poetry

Mango Song
by Christopher Bordelon ’05

Rifling thorough the drawers to find some papers that I need
See your green eyes wide in glossy staring back at me
You told me, “They’re brown,” and asked me if my sight’s ok
But I was just an inch away

Rice and spice and all things nice and I don’t feel so well
Curry favors tossing cookies, my mouth burns like hell
Smile didn’t surprise me, but the words you spoke still do
“Yo, thanks for trying something new”

We went walking hand and hand a block to Walnut Street
You’re so crazy – in the snow, with sandals on your feet
Something that you whispered made me lift you off the ground
Carried away, carried you round

Bust on you because I thought all engineers were men
Do you play the D. and D. and snort to laugh, like them?
You can do my calculus; your paper’s mine to write
Or we could work some other night

You’d tell me all about the boys who hit on you
I liked to tick you off and say red-haired girls rule
And you were dancing in my mind
Giggling and passing time
And I was peeling mangoes there with you

Drove me out of your room with all that Cyndi Lauper
I subsist on barre chords ‘cause Tiffany is awful
Turn it off, the beating of your heart’s the only sound
I hear, since only you’re around

Payrolled through the library where I could hear your voice
You were fretting something about making too much noise
I shelved books and wondered why you liked such lousy songs
At least we’ve got Veruca Salt

You had no real gripe when you complained about your cheeks
Said somebody wished them on you, said you were a freak
But all that means is, more to see, gazing at your moon
The two of them are awfully cute

Fixate on the glitter by your eyes that’s shining bright
Hard to miss as we attempt to dance away the night
Put on something more comfortable, beautiful cliché
You kept your shoes on anyway

We curse the Green Line because it’s always shut down
With you, though, it’s cool even being stuck downtown
And you had occupied my mind
Soft power personified
I took the mango pit and pulled it out

Out with the whole crew, we’d go sailing from house to house
Paddles thought the jungle juice, and pumped the whole keg out
Doing in the brothers’ gin, I heard you laugh aloud
Just liked watching us falling down

Two years snuck past and left me stuck sounding like a fool
College was all over; it was time to go to school
I doubt graduation should’ve been applied to you
I wish I’d thought what you said through

Now you’re a nun and I’m a monk, reading all the time
You tell me how med school sucks, but you’re no longer mine
Think I’ll pack this picture back up for some future day
But I think of you anyway

I have to think that Peter Sellers would be proud
Changed your act so much, I couldn’t figure you out
And you just might have left my mind
A memory that passed me by
But I can still taste mangoes in my mouth