Themes
Half Naked
only half-naked in her dream that night because everybody else was completely naked & she just had to be different & when she woke up, she finally figured out why she spent most of her free time by herself.
Halloween
I heard that the big kids soaped the windows on Halloween & all we had was a box of Tide & I couldn’t reach the windows anyway, so I poured a big pile of it on the neighbor’s doorstep & I never figured out how my mom knew it was me until we had kids.
Handy Fact
why aren’t people dogs? he said & I said because we can pick up newspapers with our hands & that made sense to him.
Golf
The first time I played golf, I had the most fun throwing bread to the goldfish in the pro shop. It made as much sense as anything else.
Good Excuse
I’m too lazy to get enlightened, he told me once & I like restaurants too much. What does that have to do with anything? I said. I’m not sure, he said, but any excuse is good when there’s change involved.
Good Jumper
I’m a good jumper, he said, but I’m not so good at landing. Maybe you should stay closer to the ground then, I said & he shook his head & said the ground was the whole problem in the first place.
Good Reasons
I tell stories for very good reasons, she said, but I’m not going to tell you what they are or you’d start reading too much into them
Good Trick
this is a special balancing trick that requires a small child to stay completely still
(so it’s still only theoretical)
Great Game
What are the rules? I said & she said, Do exactly what I want whenever I want, make no demands of me whatsoever & love me forever, no questions asked & I said, how do you win? & she said, you don’t understand. I’m the only one who wins & then she laughed & clapped her hands. Isn’t it a great game? she said.
Great Shopper
It takes focus to be a great shopper, she told me. & practice & how could I argue with that?
Goddess
I do much better as a goddess, she said, since my secretarial skills have always been limited
Generations
It came on her without thinking that she was the exact age as her mother was & no matter what, it would have been hard to leave & suddenly all the generations gathered around her in that small kitchen & held her close & they would have blocked the light if they had not come filled with their memories of love.
Geographer
I like Geography best, he said, because your mountains and rivers know the secret. Pay no attention to boundaries.
Getaway Weekend
escaping as quickly as they can from a getaway weekend gone bad
Getting Caught
I’ve never worried about getting older, he said. I’ve been too busy worrying about getting caught.
Ghosts of the Past
I’d probably have more trouble with the ghosts of the past, she said, if my memory wasn’t shot to hell.
Giving a Damn
My grandfather used to say nobody gives a damn anymore & the thing I remember most about him is the way he never let that stop him from giving a damn all the days of his life.
Glow World
this is a world filled with love & other things that have the sense not to waste time talking about everything under the sun & see how it glows with no help from us whatsoever
God Business
In the god business mainly because he’s always liked to mess with fire, even from the time he was little & not nearly so all-powerful.
Funny World
He told me about Jesus & Arizona & the best way to make beer & I said you’re a funny kind of preacher & he said it’s a funny kind of world & I still remember his eyes clear as a desert morning.