Boyfriends, a History
By Miriam Manglani
None were worth writing about.
Many in my college days were tall.
One was a body builder
with pale skin and marbled veins
who ate twelve egg whites for breakfast.
We made love on a mattress
in the back of his truck.
Another was a soldier in the Israeli army
with a big gun,
short and little-boy cute.
There was even one with a nasty streak,
dark and sour on the world.
My first placed my hand over his cocked gun
while we sat on bleachers on a fall night,
my body tingling
like my tongue when I eat lemons —
the thrill of forbidden fruit.
Miriam Manglani lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband and three children. She graduated with a degree in English from Brandeis University and works full-time as a Technical Training Manager. Her poems have been published in various magazines and journals including Sparks of Calliope, Red Eft Review, One Art, Glacial Hills Review, and Paterson Literary Review. Her poem, “They’ve Come,” was a finalist for the Beals Prize for Poetry. Her poetry chapbook, Ordinary Wonders, was published by Prolific Press.
