--SORRY TO BOTHER YOU

…Sometimes the word real is a real problem.

…I am a terrible _____, but it’s not because of what you think.

…Anymore, if I smile wide or scrunch up my face, it turns into a galaxy of wrinkles, all those stories laying in the ravines, some already told, some needing to be told.

…You’ll be sorry if you ask me to take a survey of this place.

…Who’s idea is this?  Who is kneeling there, praying for a better future?

…Sometimes I want to feel something, but today is not that day.

…You can want the flame without the burning, but it doesn’t work that way.

…Inside, ashes of an actual life, tucked in a corner, in a gray husk, covered by a stained wash cloth.

…Sometimes not even the memories are enough to get you through the night.

…Sometimes what you hear is, I’m not your mother, I’m not your therapist.

…Things were uneven, unexpected in my house, so I never invited friends over if I had any.  Once I did, and it started out badly, and ended worse.  Makes a kid gun shy.

…Sometimes the wrong play is the actually the right play.  Or vice versa.  Or maybe not.  I mean, who can really know for sure?

…Dear paper gown, my nakedness is not yours to protect.

…Some turns are sharper than others and there’s nothing you can do about it.

…My cabernet says, “Bestie.”  Sometimes that’s all I have.

…I think this keyboard is very hungover.

…When my back cracks, I call it honesty.  When I hit my funny bone, I call it a coincidence.

…Someone said, There are things in the stars we’ll never know.   I thought it was you.

…Time, which is so impatient, which wants to go on, is lying there stealthily in woods, like an sickly animal that needs to be fed.

…And isn’t that enough?  To love, and not expect any consequences for the love that was given freely?

…Most people dig the pomp, but not the circumstance.

...“I know that I’ll be a mess and you won’t be surprised.  It’s nothing new.”

…Writing this way—maybe that is the problem.

…In my defense, I meant everything.

…Call it a century of longing.

…What matters is that you’re happy.  Truly.