Kenny Knight

 
I met my first girlfriend
at a bus stop
on Honicknowle Green.
 
I know it was my first girlfriend
as I’d never had a girlfriend before
 
and although I don’t remember
the number of the bus
the colour was red
and so was my jumper.
 
When this relationship ended
I met my second girlfriend
at a bus stop.
 
This sequence continued
for the next half a dozen girlfriends
and was only broken by the first
of four girlfriends I met at a Bingo Hall.
 
I can even remember the number
that was called as we kissed
for the first time
 
and the year was nineteen
sixty eight or sixty nine.
 
After I’d worked romance
in bingo halls out of my system
I met further girlfriends
in cinemas, supermarkets,
funeral parlours.
 
Then in my mid to late twenties
I had no girlfriends at all,
even though I caught
buses regularly.
Then one night I started talking
to my next-to-be girlfriend
at a bus stop when her friend
came along and joined us.
We started going out as a threesome.
After waiting at bus stops for years
two come along at the same time.
Now with my mid life crisis
miles behind me
I’m starting to pull
at coffee mornings.