Poem: Wedding

Wedding

Sprawled on clouds, we lay on backs
wearing pajamas, staying past our bedtime
while our counterparts act out a script
in lilac and champagne. They make toasts,
stamp glasses, hoist chairs above heads,
but we, the shadows, play cards at a sixth grade
slumber party, wrestle barefoot in backyard.

Here, bride and I trade stories, we gossip,
we laugh, we remember the time when...
and in the synagogue, she places a ring,
recites Hebrew, creates a time when...

When we begin dancing, the two
come closer--the band blasting karaoke
coaxes us from perches of memory
to throw up our hands and belt along,
loosen those ties, abandon formality
and if you look closely you can see,
we haven't grown up and we don't want to, either.