Romance & Relationships
Odd Couple
My grandmother was big & solid. My grandfather was tall & thin. They looked an unlikely couple. I asked them once how they ended up together. My grandmother said she won him fair & square in an arm-wrestling match. My grandpa just smiled. I let you win, he said.
No More Secret
I will always remember the day
the sun shone dark on your hair
& I forgot where we were
& kissed you lightly
on the nose & suddenly
there was no more secret.
No Surprise
has always been fascinated by car crashes & train wrecks,
so it’s no real surprise how well he took to relationships
No Words
I read once that the
ancient Egyptians had
fifty words for sand
& the Inuit had a
hundred words for snow.
I wish I had
a thousand words
for love,
but all that comes
to mind is the way
you move against me
while you sleep
& there are
no words for that.
No Difference
There was a boy with skin
as dark as the earth
& a girl with
eyes as blue as the deep
& they loved
each other so well
that people could
not tell
them apart,
for in their hearts,
there was
no difference
between them.
Night Itself
He sneaked through the world like night itself
& never gave himself a chance to love.
Mystery of the Universe
I had a teacher once who said the greatest mystery of the universe was her husband & after that I could never understand why we wasted so much time on things like the cure for cancer or putting a man on the moon when we could just have all those scientists working on him.
New Friend
I’m at that point in the day where I’m tired of myself, she said,
so if you don’t mind, I’m going to be someone else until bedtime
& we had a lovely time together, my new friend & I.
New Places
She moved with the grace of a cat & her tongue licked at the corner of her lips & I’m sure she would have helped me if I could have said I am just a child & don’t know what to do, but I was just a child & didn’t know how to tell her about those new & raw places in my heart, so she stood there in the dim light with her hair like a cloud of perfume around her face & neither of us spoke & now I wish I could go back & hold her & say someday we will laugh & ache about this.
Mr. Right
He loved her for almost
everything she was
& she decided that
was enough to let him stay
for a very long time.
Missing Piece (M)
Wanting him to come back before anyone notices a part of the world has not moved since he left
Making Room (masculine)
When I first met him,
I knew in a moment
I would have to spend
the next few days
re-arranging my mind
so there’d be room
for him to stay.
Making Room (Feminine)
When I first met her,
I knew in a moment
I would have to spend
the next few days
re-arranging my mind
so there’d be room
for her to stay.
Lizard Brain
I have to apologize beforehand for anything that happens, he told her.
I haven’t been dating that long
& my lizard brain still acts up sometimes.
Listening to the Wind
Is there a lot of stuff you don’t understand? she said & I said pretty much the whole thing & she nodded & said that’s what she thought, but it was nice to hear it anyway & we sat there in the porch swing, listening to the wind & growing up together.
Late Night
In the end, I think that I will like that we were sitting on the bed, talking & wondering where the time had gone.
Leaves of Music
She seemed to move everywhere dancing & music followed her like leaves on the wind.
Just Friends
I saw them standing there pretending to be just friends, when all the time in the world could not pry them apart.
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.
Know Too Much
I have to hate you, she said. You know too much about me to be trusted.