Family & Relatives
Crowd
She always camouflaged herself as a crowd. I’ve never been lonely, she said, but sometimes it’s hard to think above the noise.
Cultural Fable
Once upon a time there was a pig who spoke eight languages & did sculpture with pieces of wood & rusted metal he found on his travels. One day he was out in the woods working on a new installation piece & he met a family from a small town in Tennessee. They had been walking for days. The dad saw the pig & said what are you doing, little piggie? They were all quite surprised when the pig said working with counterbalanced forces using found objects. They all stood around & looked at the piece for a long time. No one said anything. Finally, the dad shrugged & turned to the mom & said I don’t know much about art but I know what I like & then they killed the pig & ate him.
Dance Pick
I don’t mind dancing with you, he told her one night, as long as I get to pick the dance sometimes. OK, she said, you pick. So they went home & made popcorn & looked at magazines all night long
Country Dance
One summer we visited my grandparents, I remember we went to a dance in the country. The band was loud & enthusiastic & there were so many people my glasses got steamed up. After a while, the band stopped for a drink & my ears were still ringing & I looked up & there were strings of white lights scattered like stars all over the ceiling & I wondered if it was this bright out in space where there were no people & then the band started playing another polka & the quiet slipped out to the front porch with all the other old guys.
Creature on Fire
This is a creature on fire with love, but it’s still scary since most people think love only looks like one thing, instead of the whole world.
Chocolate Voyage
Every afternoon my grandmother would have 2 chocolates with her coffee. I asked her once how many she thought she had eaten in her life. If you laid them all end to end to the moon & back, she said, I’d be sitting right here even as we speak & then we celebrated her return with an extra chocolate.
City Windows
My grandmother told me once that a city has enough windows for everybody. I still want to believe her.
Challenge
If we all jumped up & down at the same time, I said,
I’ll bet we could move the world. She nodded.
I’d throw in five bucks toward it, she said, just to see
the old man get his butt off the couch.
Bitter End
I’m sick & tired of all these judgmental people, she said, & I hope they burn in hell for it.
Big Strange Family
I don’t think of it as working for world peace, he said. I think of it as just trying to get along in a really big strange family.
Big Strange Family (feminine)
I don’t think of it as working for world peace, she said. I think of it as just trying to get along in a really big strange family.
Best Choice
If I have to choose, my son said, I’ll take them all. That’s no choice, I said. Obviously, he said, you’ve forgotten how choice works.
Best of Times
I’d like to leave you with something valuable, she said. You probably already have, I said, but we take most of our lives to remember that, even in the best of times
Being Right
If you’re right & I’m not, I’m going to be hell to live with, she said. So, you better think about that next time you want to be right.
Believing My Father
I used to believe my father about everything but then I had children myself & now I see how much stuff you make up just to keep yourself from going crazy.
Belly Dancer
The singing on her belly dance records reminded her of the cattle auctions she used to go to with her grandfather & she would sing along softly, fourfiftyfourfiftyfour seventyfivegorgeous gorgeousgorgeous myohmy, she would say & then she would raise her hands above her head & ripple her body like trees in the wind.
Ballerina Mom
Whenever she stood in line at the bank, or while waiting for the bus, I noticed her feet. The right always in front & perpendicular to the left just so. Even after 2 children, she still dreamed of being a dancer.
Bananas
My great aunt told me once to remember that old people need bananas. I remember. Someday I will tell my sons.
Bed of Nails
I made a bed of nails once like they do in India, but my mom said I’d need my tetanus shots first so after awhile I just leaned it against the garage & threw apples at it & watched them stick.
Bad Trip
Monsters on an extended road trip
& you don’t know scary until you’ve seen America by car