The Kirstys

(from Greenfields)

Kirsty - that's a name
so Scottish, so
compelling.

The Kirstys I love
and used to love (a swingpark
in that comfortable housing estate,
colours of their anoraks), the low
voices of Kirstys in their teens,
intimate as the flirts
my elder brothers were,
the fights, the neatness
of the jeans of Kirstys,
the lazy ache of too much -
the taste of the mouth is the taste
in the mouth - French kissing,
the scent of a girl
on your lambswool sweater
those miles after parting.

Kirsty, Kirsty, Kirsty.

Buy Greenfields

An earlier version of this poem, "The Fionas", is reproduced, with permission, by Fiona Ritchie Walker

This was originally called "The Fionas" and when it was published in The Independent I received the first fan letter I ever received (from a relative of "Fiona McLeod", the pseudonym of Paisley author William Sharp - Fiona was effectively invented as a name by him). But for Greenfields I changed it to "The Kirstys". It could almost as easily be called "The Catrionas" or "The Alisons". That sounds generic, and there's meant to be a cheeky plural there, but I also hope there's a little affectionate tug or catch in the poem, too. Well, you can hope...

All texts unless otherwise stated © Richard Price