Different Slants

Seeing the World from a New Angle

Chicago Strawberry Blonde…by Robert M. Katzman

Filed under: Gritty Katzman Chicago Stories,Love and Romance,My Own Personal Hell,subtle erotica — Bob at 11:17 am on Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Robert M. Katzman’s Amazing Story:  

Robert M. Katzman’s Amazing Story

© January 29, 2013 (dates updated 1/27/2020)

Something romantic
Please
For a moment

53 years ago,
January 27, 1967
Chicago
Had its greatest snowstorm
Ever

I was trapped in my mother’s house
(where I didn’t live)
With a bunch of my sister’s
College friends
There for a party, also trapped

I was 16
Not a cool 16

Over the next three days
I managed to
Fall in love with this

Tall
Willowy
Strawberry Blonde
An older woman of 18

Who invited me to neck
With her
The first night of that party
As if I knew
What to do

It became a
Passionate
Three days

Then, she was gone
It killed me
I was a junior in high school
She was a freshman at University of Illinois in Carbondale

No chance
No chance for me

Now I’m near 70 and the girl?
She’s 72
But to me, she’s forever 18
No more to say
She’s the one that got away

She did write letters to me
I’d read them
At midnight
Over and over
I still have them

I saw her again one more time
Nine months later
(don’t make anything of that)
After I bought a car
At 17

I had to drive to
Southern Illinois
Managed to make a fool
Of myself
Because of how intensely
I felt about her

Then
She introduced me
To her
New fiance

It was a
Long
Long
Drive home
That day was our last contact.

Was it my worst moment ever?

It was perfect.
Passion in amber.

Pet Clark singing

“My Love”
On the record player

The dreamiest girl in the room
Wants to neck with me?
On the couch?
When I couldn’t get a date
In high school?

Couples lying all around us
In the dark
I had to look around
To figure out
What to do

Two hours earlier
I’d read poetry
In this big room
Filled with college people

To my amazement
They listened
The Strawberry Blonde
Must have really liked them
Or me, evidently

First time I learned
That
Poetry
Really
Matters

I can still
Remember
Her scent

Oh Jesus!!

***

Katzman’s Publishing Company site: www.FightingWordsPubco.com
Katzman’s online non-fiction stories: www.DifferentSlants.com

Poetry? For me, writing poetry is not an option.
It’s a response to emotion. Like cigarette smoke,
it’s fast-flowing, shapeless and with little time to capture it.
Writing poetry in an imperative. I say what I feel compelled to say.

I sell my five published books via mail order and accept major credit cards.
Fast, reliable service. Read my stories and see what you think.
I’m also available for hire to read my true Chicago stories to organizations
and answer all questions. I autograph my books when I sell them.

I am currently seeking an agent to do more readings.
Feel free to call me at the number above.

5 Comments »

Comment by J Steve Adler

February 6, 2013 @ 5:28 pm

What do you think triggered your memory of those events? This does not seem to be the only time you have written about a beautiful girl/woman/lady. It is picturesque to say the least. Interestingly enough it is the first time in 30 years that I have had someone describe a “strawberry blonde”.

Comment by Bob

February 6, 2013 @ 9:46 pm

Steve, well…in this instance, I think of that particular beautiful blonde every single January 27th because the extreme weather event created the opportunity for the totally unlikely romance.

I write about beautiful women, beside my wives, because they were there. Not everyone gets initiated into everything necessary to know at 17 by a non-English speaking 28-year-old French-Jewish cellist, do they? Who needs to write fiction?

As far as Strawberry Blonde, like you, i have most of my life in the past now, and a detailed awareness of the time before I existed. If you knew my one strawberry blonde, you too would sigh every 1/27 and think about the one that got away. I can see her in my mind right now.

Comment by brad dechter

January 27, 2020 @ 6:45 am

So I was a tad younger but watched my older brother “import” a friend from work while my parents were stranded on the north side at my grandparents. I had a great 3 days partying hardy!
Thanks for the smile you put on my face!
Brad

Comment by Jim Payne

July 22, 2020 @ 2:25 pm

You mark a step of growing up with a passage from heaven. It wasn’t just your experience. It’s all of us whether we actually met our own strawberry blond or just dream of her. Thank you for the memories.

Comment by Steve Wolf

June 28, 2021 @ 3:49 pm

Hello Bob,
I am sorry that we have been out of contact for so long. On a visit to Skokie maybe three years ago, I drove by your old spot on Dempster and noticed that your “MM” sign was off the building. I sure am hoping that shutting the place was what you wanted to do, and wasn’t something forced on you.
Your book intrigued me . . . more than I had figured. So I read every page. That saga of the encounter with the Chicago version of “The Godfather” was so well told. I am going to share it with a local buddy who had (past tense) some ties to underworld figures, and I hope is today not proud of that earlier phase of his tough life.
I am likely to be visiting my brother in Skokie next week. Are you available for a visit. Would be VG to have the chance to chat & catch up. The book gives your residence as Highwood ….. not so far away from where I’d be staying. Hope to see you again soon.

Steve Wolf tel. (847) 858-7490

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