Reach Out

I knew I was done as soon as I walked up behind you and ran my fingers up through the back of your hair.  You looked behind you expecting to wave off a buddy who couldn’t help but goof around.  But it was me, ponytail swinging like a pendulum as I stopped to gauge your [...]

Wet

“Don’t call me that,” I muttered under my breath.
“What did you say?”  You grabbed me by the forearm as I turned to walk away.  Strands of hair stuck to my face in the drizzle as I stood there with my mouth open.
“I said don’t call me that,” softer this time, defeated.
You didn’t get it.  You [...]

Ink

You were someone who knew never to ask anyone what their tattoos meant.  That would be rude.  Instead, you asked what it was on the inside of my wrist that night when I invited you over to see it for yourself.  You had never seen the tiny landmarks of my life, seemingly insignificant things from states [...]

About my Underwear

I should have just given up.  I was home from work, it was about to rain, and I should have called it quits.  But no.  I wanted to have a dress altered.
This dress is beautiful.  Emerald green satin, halter-top, simple and divine.  But it’s too big.  So I set out to walk the two blocks [...]

Invisible Blacklist

“And in the window,” my mother told me, “The sign  said, ‘WE SALE WATER.’  Really!  And I said, ‘This is why she hates this town.  Can’t spell a damn thing.’”
My mother never asks me why I don’t come home anymore.  She understands.  She knows how sad I get when I see the restaurant at which [...]

Stitches

I drove you to the hospital that day.  It was the Fourth of July and I couldn’t look directly at you, so I just drove.  You called her on the way and told her you loved her.  I bit my tongue and kept my eyes on the road.  The waiting room was this horrible dance, [...]

Easier than deciding on my own

I want you to tell me to stay.
We both know that we’re leaving, eventually, one at a time, and we’re both pissed off about it like teenagers stood up for prom.  But we’ll never talk about it like we’ll actually make a move.  We will have an awkward drink the night before I go, our [...]

If

I sat on the step alone tonight, my step, smoking.  The last cigarette in the pack.  The last one in the house, until I am a writer again.  I knew where you were, but I didn’t dare call, not for lack of desperation, but to see if you would call me.
You never call me.
The dog-walkers [...]

The Great eHarmony Experiment: Done Like a Turkey

Dear eHarmony,
I finally realized that you left me.  No more e-mails in the morning about Qasim and feank wanting to get to know me better.  No notes to try to convince me that Dave or Marvin were my soulmate.  Fewer messages harrassing me to sign up for a paid membership as if my life depended [...]

Someday, eventually

I can see us then. I will be smoking again (because I will be a writer again), and I fear you will be married, but the distance will have brought us closer despite our differences. We’ll sit on the front step in the neighborhood where I hope you’ll stay, me in my personal fog watching [...]