Themes
Cat Lover
I’ve had cats since I was young, she said & I still love them.
See, I said, you don’t have to be smart to be happy.
Catfish (aka Fish Fry)
The first time I went to a fish fry there were all these rules for surviving a dinner of catfish like picking all the bones out & having soft white bread in case you did swallow a bone & chewing until each bite was soft enough to squirt through your teeth & someone said this was the way the pioneers used to eat & I thought no wonder they didn’t live so long back then.
Center on Wheels
I spent a long time trying to find my center until I looked closely one night &
found it had wheels & moved easily in the slightest breeze, so now I spend less
time sitting and more time sailing.
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.
Cheap Eyes
this is a bag full of eyes that stopped seeing the amazing stuff a long time ago & she’s hoping to unload them cheap
Caregiver
What happened to you? I said & she said she was nurturing the cat against its will
& that was the end of that conversation.
Buffer Zone
buffered from almost every shock,
unless the pole falls down
Bunch of Bones
You know why kids like skeletons? he said & I said I didn’t &
he said it was because it didn’t matter if you were good or bad, you
ended up a bunch of bones & he stopped for a second & then he added,
but you don’t have to worry, I’ll still be good.
Bunches of Eyes
this shark sees everything because it’s got bunches of eyes
but it has such a tiny brain that it can’t keep it all straight
Busy Life
Everyone sang Happy Birthday except Max who claimed he didn’t know the words.
I was busy that day, he said, & it really hasn’t let up since.
Butter & Sugar
I like butter & sugar & being alive a whole lot &
today I’m kind of sad because with all the latest studies
I figured out I’m going to have to choose.
Butterflies
He told me that the night his mother died, there were storms & far away there was purple lightning & someone left the window open & the room filled with a swirl of butterflies & she slipped out quietly without anyone noticing & I’m sure the grief was softer because of that.
Buttons
You don’t get to use buttons until you get to be pretty old, I heard him tell his brother,
but you’ll be slower then & it won’t be so much of a problem.
Cable TV
Some days it’s not worth the effort to pull myself together,
she said, so I’m glad I get cable
Calculated Risk
Are we your real children? they said & I said we had our pick of all the children in the world & we took a few home to try out & though we tried to return them later, it was more trouble than it was worth, so we kept them & loved them & taught them all the stuff they’d need to know when it came time for them to choose, so they wouldn’t make the same mistakes we did & later I heard one of them say they didn’t know about being a parent if it was as risky as all that.
Cannibal
I’d never make a good cannibal, she said. I have to watch my fat intake too closely.
Breakfast Perspective
you can bet that if oatmeal was bigger than us, he said,
we’d be breakfast cereal in a minute
Breakfast of Champions
Breakfast is not a competition, she said, but they were gone already &
both of them thought they’d won
Broken Down
this is a machine that’s supposed to make people good &
true & kind & the funny thing is that it works best
when it’s completely broken down so everyone has to stop what
they’re doing & get together & figure out how to fix it.
Brotherhood of Man
I’m much better at the brotherhood of man thing, he said,
when I can afford to live in a good neighborhood.