poem
WRITTEN:
1983, 16 years
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
This is about a guy I was helplessly infatuated with in upper high school. He couldn't stand me, and blamed it on my braces ("headgear" if you are in the US). More likely it was due to my enthusiastic interest in him.
The second line refers to his unrequited pursual of my friend Cathy. Superficially we were alike - dark haired, short of stature, roundedly feminine, but she was better looking and better adapted socially than I was, yet I was interested in him and she wasn't. The "shoes discarded by his friend" refers to him taking up with Sharon, a girl who had previously gone with another of the guys in our group; "fails to notice they are the wrong size" refers to Sharon only wanting a boyfriend as a status symbol, rather having any genuine interest in him.
He who is named after the cliff dweller
He who sought gold when copper had the greater value
He who now wears the shoes discarded by his friend
He who is like the ocean-side pools
He who wears the shoes but fails to notice they are the wrong size
He is the explorer in an explored land: the fool who is condemned