The 5 People I Will Meet In Heaven Poem by Jim Boone

Like it or not, Clyde Boone will be #1.
He ‘ruined’ my early ‘homo’ years and I
‘Demonized’ his parenthood.

#2 Will be Lorene Aven Boone, the mother
who invested all her love in her first born
And was cared for in the end, for 11 years
By breakable, dependable me.

Now #3 could be someone I knew (loved)
In my Army years: Maybe my best buddy
Lloyd who when we reconnected this year
Appeared to lose all interest in further
Discussions after I would not let him forget
About my gayness and how much I ‘admired’
Him back then. No, he’s ‘too young’ Maybe
Mr. Yu, our houseboy in Korea. Maybe...

Someone from my McKinney years could easily
Be number #4, because there were so many:
Maybe Uncle Wesley, John Summers,
Bob Barry, Ruby Rae Foster or you.

#5 could be someone from the gay
‘Doo-Dah’ days of 1964 – 1985: Maybe one of
The many friends who were fated to ‘Exit’
Because of the AIDS epidemic. Thought I
Should be one of them, but it wasn’t in the plan.

May God be with us till we meet again.
2011