AIMING TO PLEASE

At an early age it becomes apparent that one way to be sure of succeeding in the romance stakes is to impress one's beloved with some extraordinary skill: playing the guitar, always seemed to work when I was a kid, though never for me with my total absence of musical ability. 
Being good at sport was certain to garner popularity or, if all else failed, being a "poet" (or, more importantly, looking like one) was a pretty good bet. 
At the fairground, too, there would have been opportunities aplenty to demonstrate one's desirability to the opposite sex through a host of daredevil activities like helter-skelter or the dodgems. 
Prowess at the rifle range, too, would almost certainly have guaranteed a chaste kiss.

KIDS

He swears the air-gun’s fixed to miss,
the moving target’s somehow rigged
but still he pays and takes three shots,
and misses. 
She demands a kiss
for consolation. 
Then the slots,
small change, fixed too, 
by now he’s twigged
it’s all a con, but loads of fun,
as they go running, hand in hand.
She laughs, cries out,
Let’s get some chips!
A childish romance has begun.
He kisses her chip-salty lips
behind the Punch and Judy stand.