Old Friend, Found Again
Two poems about friendship
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I am in Chicago this week for a conference which allowed me the opportunity to connect with an old friend. It was so joyous to sit side by side after so many years and drink in each other’s company. So, this week I offer you two poems on friendship, one of my favorite poems by January Gill O’Neill and a new poem by me.
I would love to continue this conversation in the comments. What resonates with you? What is your favorite poem or book about friendship? Tell us a story about your friend.
In the Company of Women
by January Gill O'Neil
Make me laugh over coffee,
make it a double, make it frothy
so it seethes in our delight.
Make my cup overflow
with your small happiness.
I want to hoot and snort and cackle and chuckle.
Let your laughter fill me like a bell.
Let me listen to your ringing and singing
as Billie Holiday croons above our heads.
Sorry, the blues are nowhere to be found.
Not tonight. Not here.
No makeup. No tears.
Only contours. Only curves.
Each sip takes back a pound,
each dry-roasted swirl takes our soul.
Can I have a refill, just one more?
Let the bitterness sink to the bottom of our lives.
Let us take this joy to go.
Old Friend
by Mary Hutto Fruchter
I wait for you at the high-top you reserved at The Purple Pig
You text to say you are stuck in traffic and wonder if I have secured our table
“I am not such a country mouse,” I tease
my overalls and hiking boots wet from the rain
It has been so long since I last saw you
I wonder if it has been too long
Waiting only makes me wonder more
Should I order a bottle of wine?
I can’t remember if you drink red wine
In your city, it has been raining all day
Relentless
You arrive like a clearing
“You look the same,” I say
“You look great,” you say
I forgot that friends are the kindest mirrors
We toast to then
We toast to now
“Seven years,” I say
You stare at me open mouthed
“Has it really been seven years since I’ve seen your face?”
At our age, time merges, morphs and mirages itself
Seven years is a flipped page
Seven years is a lifetime
We have lost so much in seven years
too much
and yet here we are
and perhaps that is why time stands still at this small table
the squid ink chitarra, the brussels sprouts and balsamic, the missing bacon
all become background
to my heart beating so close to yours
We savor each other’s stories
Over whipped ricotta and pears
Sweet and delicious
Surprising how well one complements the other
Hours pass like seconds, like minutes, like nothing
until the owner taps my shoulder and apologizes
“I’m so sorry,” she says “to have to do this,
but others are waiting for the table.”
“So sorry,” we say
“Forgive us.
We haven’t seen each other in seven years.”
We offer her a piece of our shared story
She is polite, but she doesn’t care
She just needs the table, and for some reason this makes us snort
We are polite, but we don’t care
We are drunk on our discovery
An old friend
found again
Oh, I love both of these poems, and this line in yours: "Seven years is a flipped page
Seven years is a lifetime." How lucky we are to have friends who know us, no matter how much we may have changed. Thank you.
Wow!!! I love both of these expressions of friendship, and your poem captured the mood of our time together perfectly. I’m so thankful for friendships that feel like no time has passed even though seven years has zipped by. I wish we could have extended the time over coffee too. :-) Maybe on the west coast. Xoxo