Spiritual
Watching Ants
I would like to think more about baseball & small engines & the best weedkiller known to man, but I always end up watching the ants on my back porch, thinking we’re not so different after all.
Weight
This only weighs a lot if you’ve forgotten to do the stuff you wanted to do all along.
Weight Training
This is a giant block of whatever is most difficult for you to carry & trust me on this, you’ll carry it more times than you can count until you decide that’s exactly what you want to do most & then it won’t weigh a thing anymore.
Waiting for Signs
I used to wait for a sign, she said, before I did anything. Then one night I had a dream & an angel in black tights came to me & said, you can start any time now, & then I asked is this a sign? & the angel started laughing & I woke up. Now, I think the whole world is filled with signs, but if there’s no laughter, I know they’re not for me.
Unheard Music
Don’t you hear it? she asked & I shook my head no & then she started to dance & suddenly there was music everywhere & it went on for a very long time & when I finally found words all I could say was thank you.
Trusting the Universe
It’s much easier to trust the universe when it’s going well, she said.
Two Wise Men
My great-aunt Clara told us once about the time she was one of the wise men in the church play & when it came to her part she said we’re here bearing frankincense, gold & myrrh, heavy on the frankincense because of that camel smell & after that her father always called it the story of the Two Wise Men & that other guy & we laughed so hard we had to pee.
Thousand Moments
I still remember the day the world took you back & there was never time to thank you for the thousand scattered moments you left behind to watch us while we slept.
Thin Skin
Only her skin between her life & a return to the great wide ocean
Ten Commandments
I asked her why she never told us about the Ten Commandments & she said she wasn’t ever that good with numbers so she loved everything as best she could & I remember thinking who needs all those rules anyway with a mother like her around.
Stretching Out
I’ve been doing these Chinese stretches that are supposed to make you live longer, he told me.
I just hope I’m not this sore the whole time.
Strict Followers
Trying to follow in the footsteps of the masters, but it’s a lot harder than it looks because even though they had the same size feet as us, they weren’t looking down the whole time while they walked to make sure they were doing it right.
Street Signs
These are all the street signs for this area but he keeps moving them around at night so the only people who aren’t lost all the time are the children who never pay attention to signs anyway.
Stress Management
I can imagine it working out perfectly, I said. I can’t, she said & I said no wonder you’re so stressed.
Straight Forward
Start here & go until you die, he said. What’s so complicated about that?
Start Up
How do you start a religion? he said.
I think you have faith & then you wait for a miracle, I said. At least that’s how it’s been done before.
He nodded. OK, he said, so it’s a lot like e-commerce.
Sorrow
This is a box filled with the sorrow of all the people who have been forgotten & some day it will wash the world clean.
Soul Mate
How can you be sure it has a soul? she said. You can’t, I said, unless you’ve got one yourself.
Slumber Party
I don’t know if I really believe in all the saints, she said, but I pray to them anyway. It makes every night feel more like a slumber party.
Slow Cure
has some sort of disease where you hallucinate & start to not believe in love, but after a year or two, or even sometimes ten or twenty, it cures itself & all that’s left are a few little red spots that twinge & ache whenever you get too near someone else that has the disease & it’s all you can do to stop from reaching out & holding them close