Personal Growth
Not Knowing
I wish I knew what this means but I wish that about a lot of things so mostly I enjoy not knowing.
Not Too Close
I try not to get too close, he said.
From a distance almost everything looks real.
No Danger
Has made peace with this monster
so there’s no danger unless you
wear a perfume that smells like raw meat.
No Incentive
There’s no incentive to tell the truth
when you’re already in this deep, he said.
I’m just hoping to die peacefully in my sleep.
No Bite
this is a long line of teeth
that keep the dark at bay
& it works OK, but there’s
also no bite left in
anybody around here anymore
No Attachment
this is a machine with no attachments whatsoever,
so it’s guaranteed to break down just when you think you need it most
Night Itself
He sneaked through the world like night itself
& never gave himself a chance to love.
New Start
We had neighbors once who never cleaned their house & left dishes in the sink & when there were no more dishes their dad would go out & buy another set of plastic dishes for $9.99 at Ben Franklin & one winter the house caught on fire & there were great piles of melted plastic everywhere & nothing could be saved & they moved to a new town with nothing but the clothes on their back & a new set of plastic dishes the church ladies gave them. Sometimes it doesn’t take much to make a new start.
Next Big Thing
On the lookout for
the next big thing
because it would solve
a lot of the problems
of having to deal
with the same old stuff.
National Geographic Hat
He said the hat kept his soul from drifting off
& I asked if he knew this from experience
& he laughed & said all his best bits
were from National Geographic.
New Age
We’re already in the new age, she said.
What does that mean? I said. It means we
can stop waiting & start living, she said
but after she left, I still waited
a little while more just to be safe.
More Space
convinced she can do everything she’s ever dreamed of with just a little more space
Moving Fast
An old habit of looking like she’s moving fast. It keeps people from asking too many questions.
Multiple Shadows
these are multiple shadows because
there were a lot of things she walked
away from without a word of explanation
when she was younger & she still
thinks about them more than she needs to
Money Matters
I think of it as an
opportunity to find out
how much money means to me,
she said. So far, it means
a lot more than I think
is probably healthy.
Money Sense
The thing about money is you can’t think
about it too much, he told me, or you won’t
sleep at night & you get dark circles
under your eyes & nothing seems fun
any more. I told him it was that way
with a lot of things & he nodded
& said, yeah, but with money it makes sense.
Mind Map
It makes sense to make a map
of places where you can get
eaten by bears, or where
there’s a bottomless pit,
but when you get into making
maps of your mind, you’re
basically wasting your time.
Mirror Treasures
treasures that look like common stuff
Making Sense
Hasn’t started to make sense of the world yet but thinks it’s beautiful all the same.
Material Girl
I know enough to tell you that fluff is a substance too, she said.