Donna asked me
to run off to the farm,
raise goats and sheep and turnips
with her. Seventh grade,
   and I don’t know, don’t go,
though china doll Donna
   with her hair
like a central Kansas night
is still a Helen
   in high school,
every guy wants her,
  and I’m no different,
though I love
   what she writes me
in her letters
   as much as her looks.

I kept that one
   about the goat farm,
take it with me
   when I travel,
and sometimes I write back,
   cursive script
into the past,
letters to the girl
from that boy
back in junior high.

And she never
   writes back.

– Kevin Rabas