69 Words

When I was a child I giggled at the numbers

shared the pretense with my friends

blushed when a girlfriend used it to describe

her checking account.

She was telling me about being

overdrawn,

very simply,

needed sixty-nine to find her balance.

I didn’t see it then,

and now today,

I wish I’d given her

69.

Instead, I provided shallow words

when all she really wanted

was a thrilling tongue.