first kiss

I can remember
many things that have no use
to me now.
equations,
the periodic table.
mickey mantle's
life time batting average.
I carry them with
me like I might
chap stick, or
gum, or a map in
the glove compartment
of my car,
never to be used or needed
again.
I remember kissing
the girl
next door, Karen
for the very first time
when I was nine.
I think about it quite
often.
and yet, what good is it
now, to know
and remember that
feeling, that tingling
of first infatuation?
hard to call it
love at that age,
but it seemed to be so.