a's thoughts on valentine's day.

I am not cynical. Honest. I love Valentine's Day! I love love. I love the Format. Remember? All I`m saying is that maybe Valentine's Day isn't the best day to get engaged. But I can't rag on my little brother for it. Big sisters don't do that sort of stuff. I can't say that I'm not slightly jealous or nervous or excited, because I am. But no body needs to feel pressure for that. And even though the situation is maybe a little more than conversation hearts, red carnations, and tin-foiled chocolates, we don't forget that either. All I'm saying is if you`re going to start a family, you may want a little money in your pockets; and if you want to make that girl into your wife, then you had better make sure that antique ring won`t set you back too far. And if you're going to say yes to that boy (yes, that one), then please realize that he has the best of intentions, most likely yours at heart, but he is not a man. Not yet. Other than that, stay dry & don't let too many people tell you what will & won't happen. It already is.

Thoughts on $, coming soon.

l.f.

I`d like to show you some great-grand-kids, eventually.
But, oh! There`s just not enough time for that.

yawn.

We forget the need &the desire &the comfort of communal solitude. how it comes so easily to our little bones to stay &work &work&work-ad nauseum.
but you wake up a little bit too early, &drop off your dear at the plane station [you secretly hope it leaves without them], &drive back home, &fall back asleep.
&wake up again.
then you drive&drive&drive some more...to a significantly inconsequential town that had a winning high school baseball team in 1999 or 2000. &you make jokes about the paved road in the middle of the red, packed down dirt-clay road that "someone had gotten a little too ambitious over."
&then you wait&wait&wait for a greying Vietnam veteran to explain to you that wolves are not, in fact, agressive. &then you watch one jump on your little sister. because she had gum in her pocket.
&then you walk&walk&walk to the coons, foxes, &skunks. &it has been overcast all day, &secretly you have been worrying that it is going to start pouring and ruin your shoes.
&then you sit down and someone hands you a skunk. So you hold her. Because she is sleepy. [&for the most part, she does not smell bad.]
&most of this time you are wondering how your plane-flying dear is.
But then you remember how you are.
So you ask the woman if it`s legal to own a pet skunk.
"In Florida..."

lisa scandrette.

there`s something to be said about a woman like you.
there`s something to be said about the lady who has been adventuring for so long, since so young.
there`s something to be said about the trust of rejoicing when mark speaks to college-aged students.
&highschoolers.
&middleschoolers.
there`s something to be said about quiet confidence, &living in a greater wholeness, than the author himself(?)!
i met you once.
i don`t exactly know what i expected from you.
you seemed happily content, supervising the stew &tomato dicing.
we exchanged no words, even.
perhaps a knowing glance. once.
what was it about you, then?
what is it that is so freely able to sidle up next to another beating heart, &say, "yes, yes, this. this is living."
what is it in you that dances so harmoniously to the chords of the Holy Spirit?
what is it about your spirit, as eager as a child`s, that says,
"yes, Lord! oh! pick me! pick me!"

please pick me, then too, sweet Jesus.

what child is this, sir?

"The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf &the lion &the fatling together, &a little child shall lead them." -Isaiah 11:6

poetic waxings

Thing I Liked About Today.
1. Children's laughter
2. Breakfast waffles
3. Good company
4. Warm massage tables
5. Musical worship
6. Old friends
7. New friends
8. Good books
9. Writing &penmanship
10. Leggings
11. Yawns

on June twenty-first.

"Oh! The infinite curiousities of arctic blue popsicles, chlorinated swimming pools, and sunburned sleeps; the waking up after the moon and riding bicycles barefooted down the dusky streets that smell of laundry detergent and six different colours of life."
I`d like them all.