Family & Relatives
Quiet Spaces
We had gone far enough together to listen easily in the quiet spaces.
Quiet Dance
Her feet moved like small creatures over the floor, quiet & unconcerned with anything but the business of dancing.
Psychic Energy
For a long time, he was trying to pop these balloons with psychic energy but he found a dart was simpler. I save my psychic energy for more important things, he told me, like trying to predict the future. I told him a dart is good for that too & now he never calls anymore.
Pretend Visitor
We stood out on the porch before we went inside & she told me her secret. Pretend you’re just visiting, she said. That way you’ll forget that they’re family.
Pockets
She had a big coat with pockets she filled with crackers & cheese & little wrapped chocolates in case (she said) she ever got trapped too far from a convenience store. I don’t take civilization for granted, she said.
Place by the Sea
He kept a piece of algae behind his ear to remind him of his roots. A million years ago every place was a little place by the sea, he would say & my mind would go blank & I would swim through the day without a care in the world & it all seemed so familiar that I knew I would go back someday to my own little place by the sea.
Partners
Tied together by stuff too difficult to explain to someone new
Open Heart
He told me one time he forgot himself & his heart opened up like a door with a loose latch & he tried for days to put it all back in proper order but finally he gave up & left it all jumbled up there in a pile & loved everything equally.
Opera Man
My uncle told me once there were 3 rules for a great opera. Make it loud, wear flashy clothes & if it’s not going your way, kill yourself. It has no basis in reality, he added. That’s why I like it.
Ordinary Life
Time stands still best in moments that look suspiciously like ordinary life.
One of Us
Someday, the light will shine like a sun through my skin & they will say, What have you done with your life? & though there are many moments I think I will remember, in the end, I will be proud to say, I was one of us.
Odd Couple
My grandmother was big & solid. My grandfather was tall & thin. They looked an unlikely couple. I asked them once how they ended up together. My grandmother said she won him fair & square in an arm-wrestling match. My grandpa just smiled. I let you win, he said.
Norm
Are you here to borrow money or to visit? He used to say
& I’d say it’s me, grandpa & then he’d say o hell,
come on in & visit anyway.
Native Hawaiians
We used to go visit my grandma on the train & on the way my sister & I would talk to people we met & tell them we were from Hawaii & could speak Polynesian & I’d hold up a 7-Up & say this is called puka-puka-wanini on the Big Island & we’d make up longer and longer names until it took about 10 minutes to say one & about that time we would be there & we’d say aloha & go off to have lunch at my grandma’s & my sister would hold up a Mrs. Paul’s fish stick & say in Hawaii they call these molo-molo-pooey-pooey & I’d try not to choke on my fruit punch.
Missing Piece (M)
Wanting him to come back before anyone notices a part of the world has not moved since he left
Mirror Image
My sister read somewhere once
that if you look into your own eyes
long enough in a mirror
you change into the Devil
& it took her almost thirty years,
but she finally did it.
Living Memory
I carry you with me into the world,
into the smell of rain
& the words that dance between people
& for me, it will always be this way,
walking in the light,
remembering being alive together
Lifetime
We’re here to end it, I said & she said, No, we’re here to begin it & then she turned & opened her arms & everywhere I could see, there were people, like bright birds, calling with a thousand voices & suddenly I understood. Here is where it begins with all of us, together giving our daughters a world worth loving for a lifetime to come.
Laughter & Digestion
There are only 2 things I take seriously, my aunt said once. Laughter & my digestion. I’m too old to bother with more than that.
Kindred Spirits
You’re the strangest person I ever met, she said & I said you too & we decided we’d know each other a long time.