Travel & Moving
Silly in Public
I figured out that if I keep it up, someday I’ll probably get wise enough to be silly in public but I probably won’t wait that long.
Sense of Touch
map of all the places you’ll find around here if you put in enough effort & are willing to travel using only your sense of touch
Settle Down
way too much stuff to carry so it’s probably time to settle down
Sense of Directionlessness
cursed with an unerring sense of directionlessness even when things are going well
Second Thoughts
travelling as fast in one direction as she can go before she has second thoughts & goes back to doing the same old stuff
Road Trip
A box full of fantasies you have to be away from town to use
Riding the Pony
When I was younger, my favorite thing was riding the pony outside the Safeway. My dad always said I should save my money for something better, but I could ride for miles all over the West & always end up back at the Safeway & all it cost was a quarter & I still can’t think of anything better than that.
Right Hand Turns
plans her route so she only has to make right hand turns so she never has to stop
Reserve Judgment
I used to live for the day, she said, before I moved to Minnesota.
Now, I check the temperature before I do anything.
Riding Home
You may not remember the time you let me go first. Or the time you dropped back to tell me it wasn’t that far to go. Or the time you waited at the crossroads for me to catch up. You may not remember any of those, but I do & this is what I have to say to you: today, no matter what it takes, we ride home together.
Raising the Bar
I need to move someplace where Cheez Whiz isn’t a major food group, she said.
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.
Native Hawaiians
We used to go visit my grandma on the train & on the way my sister & I would talk to people we met & tell them we were from Hawaii & could speak Polynesian & I’d hold up a 7-Up & say this is called puka-puka-wanini on the Big Island & we’d make up longer and longer names until it took about 10 minutes to say one & about that time we would be there & we’d say aloha & go off to have lunch at my grandma’s & my sister would hold up a Mrs. Paul’s fish stick & say in Hawaii they call these molo-molo-pooey-pooey & I’d try not to choke on my fruit punch.
Moving Day
I think you love people until you get to understand them,
she said & I said, what happens then?
& she said, o, that’s when you move away.
Long Neck
I have been blessed with a long neck so my chin never bumps into my shoulders when I’m making a lane change on the freeway.
Lost In the Translation
There are some days
when no matter what I say
it feels like I’m far away in another country
& whoever is doing the translating
has had far too much to drink.
Leaving Pieces
She left pieces of her life behind her everywhere she went. It’s easier to feel the sunlight without them, she said.
L.A. Driving
learned to drive in L.A so it’s best just to get out of her way
LA Hair
She told me she moved to LA so she could dye her hair & be in a band. A couple of years after that someone told me she’d quit her band to go to cosmetology school. I guess it was easier to give up music than to give up the hair.
Kid Games
One time I was standing on a corner in Chicago & a man stopped his car & asked for directions to a place I knew & I said that’s too easy, ask me something harder & he yelled & said he wasn’t playing games kid & then he drove off & I think about him sometimes & wonder if he ever got there.