A poem Sly and the Family Stone dancing in my brain, I wanna thank you… for letting me… be myself… again. A quick courtship of hello, I love you, let’s elope. 12 years in, more in than ever How do we do it? We don’t do it as much as be it Together even when we’re not mostly only a room away Doing…

We sat poolside and spoke only of important matters — “It’s quite simple, really. Vegetarians live off of vegetables, hopetarians live off of hope and sextarians live off of sex,” stated my confident friend, Andrea. When I told her that I’ve never heard of a hopetarian either, she tells me that we know a bunch. “Cody is a total hopetarian…

Angela has a theory — “It may sound crude,” Angela began, “But I think I’ve finally gotten to the bottom of this whole fear of intimacy thing people keep labeling me with. Angela lay stiffly on the massage table as Helga continues applying the lavender herbal wrap to Angela’s under-worked, over-stressed body. …

Sunday in Malibu — Betty loves the beach. Every Sunday she hops into her cherry red, beat-up, ancient Toyota Celica and drives on Topanga Canyon until she hits the ocean. Her car makes strange noises as she follows the curves of the canyon. Betty’s never sure if her car will make it to the beach. …

Fiction Friday — The thing about traveling alone is that you don’t know who you’ll get stuck sitting next to. It’s a good idea to always bring a book on long flights. But on the day that Jocelyn chose to fly to Hawaii for a private getaway, she packed her book in her…

Fiction Friday — You’re kidding, right? I ask the gorgeous man sitting on the end of my bed. I lean over, kiss his neck and ask him to stay awhile. No, really, he continues, as he tucks in his purple silk shirt that I inadvertently wrinkled just moments ago. …

And I let him in. — It was a snowy day in Cleveland. I sat alone in my much-too-large-for-only-one-person-apartment, wondering. Wondering entirely-too-intensely-about-everything-I-could-think-of. Has anyone ever died from eating non-cooked Toll House cookie dough? How long would it take to save up enough lint to make a sweater? Would George Clooney like me? If my neighbor started…

Teachers are sometimes disguised as 9-year-olds — Carly was an old soul. That’s why her teacher, Mrs. Billings, cried when Carly asked her if she ever really loved a man. Carly, all of 9 years old, sat arms crossed in front of her chest on the after school detention bench where Mrs. Billings stood over her, weeping. …

You can’t get too close to Connie — I am not afraid, Connie repeats out loud to herself as she put away her groceries. I am not afraid, not afraid, not afraid. She takes two sips of a can of diet 7up and then puts it in the freezer thinking it was the fridge. Love did that to…

Alien love is for reals When it first started I thought I was dreaming. I had heard about this sort of thing, I’ve seen movies about it. I just didn’t expect it to happen to me. I felt special. Scared too. I felt like I was the star of my own Sci-Fi feature. I’d be the adorable trustworthy protagonist…

But he’ll get what he needs — My God, she is stunning. This woman is beyond movie star beautiful, she is class and hotness, elegance & nastiness. She has a thick Ukrainian accent and wears tight-fitting clothes. She is the perfect woman. “I just want her to love me forever,” Stanley thought. “And I would want nothing more out of life.” Stanley…

HER You are so difficult to love. HIM You used to do it quite naturally. HER I plead temporary insanity. HIM You liked plenty of things about me. HER Name one. HIM I don’t know. You were the one liking them. After a while. HER I liked your Jimmy Durante…

We met at a spiritual new agey bookstore — He had long, curly brown hair and thick-framed glasses that looked heavy enough to leave a mark on the bridge of his nose. He bumps into the discount bookrack and pretends to not notice when all the books come tumbling down. Can I help you find something? …

Jack wallows — Jack downs his second pot of coffee as he watches the rush hour traffic zoom by his window. Still in his bathrobe, still alone and still in a lousy mood, he can’t remember if it was due to his lousy mood that he was alone or if being alone is what brought on the lousy mood. Which came first and does it really make a difference? So many…

Is it hot out here? Or is it just you? — It’s the summer of 1998 and I’m watching Heather as she lies naked on her sundeck typing away on her laptop, sipping a wine spritzer, and singing along to her clock radio. There’s a new station that plays nothing but The Beatles all day, she tells me. No kidding? …

I’ll get you some water — I just got home, I peel off my yoga pants and almost trip over the dog as she greets me with her enthusiastic hello as I make my way towards the bathroom to start a nice, hot, well-deserved bubble bath. I give the pup a hug and then just as…

Jimmy has a theory — The way I see it, Jimmy begins, is that we all have a choice in life to either suck in the appropriate information we need to make us happy or to just let our passions seep out and leave us deflated, like a balloon. …

And love, sweet love — Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see, It’s getting hard to be someone, but it all works out. — Strawberry Fields, The Beatles When Kendra‘s new psychiatrist asks her about her relationships with men, Kendra paces around her office and tells her, He told me that I ruined The Beatles for him. I’ve heard that one more…