Themes
LA Hair
She told me she moved to LA so she could dye her hair & be in a band. A couple of years after that someone told me she’d quit her band to go to cosmetology school. I guess it was easier to give up music than to give up the hair.
Labor Force
Do you make all this stuff up on your own? she said & I said I had a lot of people working for me day & night & most of them didn’t know it & I’m sure she was impressed until she figured out what I meant later on.
Landscape of the Heart (Feminine)
It is still so new & all we see is the empty space, but that is not how it is in the landscape of the heart. There, there is no empty space & she still laughs & grapples with ideas & plans & nods wisely with each of us in turn. We are proud to have known her. We are proud to have called her friend.
Landscape of the Heart (Masculine)
It is still so new & all we see is the empty space, but that is not how it is in the landscape of the heart. There, there is no empty space & he still laughs & grapples with ideas & plans & nods wisely with each of us in turn. We are proud to have known him. We are proud to have called him friend.
Last Wish
I don’t care what you do when I’m gone, he told us. Just don’t bury me where the dog can find me.
Kid Games
One time I was standing on a corner in Chicago & a man stopped his car & asked for directions to a place I knew & I said that’s too easy, ask me something harder & he yelled & said he wasn’t playing games kid & then he drove off & I think about him sometimes & wonder if he ever got there.
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.
Knees
These knees have stories, she said, but they’d have to be a mouth to tell you.
Know Too Much
I have to hate you, she said. You know too much about me to be trusted.
Knowing Right
I’m not so good at taking my own advice, she said, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know what’s right.
Knowing the Score
No one really keeps score, but if they did, we would’ve won 5 to 2.
Jacques Cousteau
I saw Jacques Cousteau at the grocery store in L.A. once & I watched to see what he would buy, but he only got corn chips & some shoelaces & I don’t know what I expected, but I would’ve settled for a can of chunk light tuna even.
Jello Salad
There are 7 levels of hell, she said, & I think one of them is reserved for people who bring jello salads to every potluck they go to.
Joy of Spring
The birds brought seed & flowers & bits of brightly colored string & placed them in her hair while she slept so that she would remember the wild joy of spring when she finally awoke.
Just Desserts
I only hate people that deserve it, she said. How do you know? I said. Trust me, she said. I know.
Just Friends
I saw them standing there pretending to be just friends, when all the time in the world could not pry them apart.
Just Weeds
running wildly into the spring wind chasing down all the dandelions before they turn into just weeds in a couple of years
Intuition
How do you know? she said & the answers fell like feathers, or the first snowflakes of November, light & without words. I looked in her eyes & smiled. You just know, I said.
Inventing Evil
He said who invented evil? & I said I wasn’t sure anybody invented it, it just happened when somebody got tired of all the effort it took to live right. They probably didn’t have anyone to teach them, he said & I thought to myself, we might be doing this right after all.
Invention
I always wanted to invent something that would move around & make funny noises & would change the world as we know it & I forgot all about that until we had kids & now I see I came pretty close.