Like a Stranger

Sitting in the dark, I'm up to something devilishly wild, or I would be, if only there was someone to tempt or to tease. Not the loving, tired, rushing husband who has predicted my every move. I don't want to go to that humdrum place of paperwork, health food, and sleep. No, I'm looking for that bold stranger I'm oddly comfortable and yet slyly, slinkily powerful around. I'm looking for the man I sink to my knees for, the man who's ready to try as many tactics as it takes to get me flat on my back, or better yet, on my hands and knees, crawling, begging, licking up whatever tidbit I can get. Yes, I'm looking for the swift and sudden, the unusual, the grab and the shove. I'm looking for danger, for temptation, for the racing pulse, and for the guarded, heaving body I love.

Toast: Anger Slices

How would you like your toast today? With slices of lemon, or slices of cherries, or how about slices of anger? No? You'd prefer whipped peace? We're all out. I really do recommend the sliced anger. Oh, you're more into hug-butter spread? Drat! Only yesterday we had plenty of that. Now look, what's so repulsive about anger slices? They took a lot of time, energy, and repressed dreams to produce, so someone's got to eat them. They can't just lay around getting moldy after all that. Oh, so you think if you don't eat them, they won't be in demand, and all of the "wasted" time and energy can be spent on something more enjoyable? You know, some people demand anger slices, so we have to have them handy. We should tell them to try pleasant patience jam instead? Ha! That'll be the day! It worked in your home town? Where do you live? La La Lovely Land? Om? I've never heard of Om. Oz, now I've heard of that. Anyway, let me put it to you this way... I grew an awful lot of anger this year. Now it's all sliced up and ready to go, and I refuse to keep it any longer, so like it or not, you're gonna eat your toast with this anger on it, like it or not! Not? Well! Some people!!!

The Forehead Stuffed with 10,000 Pillows

Once upon a time there was a dainty little forehead. This forehead loved to walk in the mild autumn air, feel the breezes blowing, pass by soft downy tree leaves, and lean against other foreheads before falling asleep. Then one day this poor daintly forehead woke up next to its favorite other forehead but could find no pleasure in this occurrence because it felt as if someone had stuffed 10,000 pillows inside of it. Oh, this forehead rolled around. Some friendly fingers pried and pressed at it, trying to relieve the pressure, but those 10,000 pillows refused to be pried away. The other forehead got up and left and this poor little forehead didn't know what to do. For days, weeks, what seemed like endless lifetimes, this poor little forehead didn't enjoy the breeze, the trees, or even the other little forehead. Slowly, ever so slowly, the 10,000 pillows fell out and flew away like lite little feathers on tissue beds. "Ah, that's a little better," exclaimed the not-so-dainty-feeling forehead. There was dampness all around for the other little forehead had brought tea and a dehumidifier. There were also blankets wrapped tight so it was very warm and cozy. And then, one lovely chilly morning, the dainty little forehead woke up with the feeling of clouds and air and Tibetan chimes instead of 10,000 pillows and the sounds of rattling garbage cans and squealing hogs. You should have seen that dainty little forehead bounce about. Bouncing felt so joyous and free again. Oh, that forehead went racing out into the breezes and although the trees no longer had leaves, still, that forehead went bounding about. All red and exhausted the dainty little forehead came back home and leapt into bed, eager to lean against it's favorite other forehead and fall asleep with a light and peaceful emptiness. Ah yes.

The Allure of Nothing

Instead of being someone
Instead of dusting, ripping mail, putting checks in the bank
What if I hide
Beneath the covers
For a whole year of day dreaming, hot soup, and deep deep sleep?
A secret year of free, eager blades of grass peeking up beneath the leaves -

Goodbye to the teachings I teach
Goodbye to the people I say hello to
Goodbye to the feeling "I must"

I'll do what I want!

When you see the lump under the covers, I'll really be:
Writing poetry in San Francisco
With the cool air and the hills and the surf,
Showing up at the dances and the open mics
Meeting the young and the old passionates,
Draining my savings away
Into a wispy promise of hard work tomorrow,
So happily warm and cozy and tucked away
Alone in my own shell of daydreams.

The White Ferris Wheel

In the middle of Niagra Falls town
The talking hamburgers, the wax people
The pyramids trying so hard to entice
I walked back from The Guru
With my bindhi masala wrapped up
In a pure white plastic bag
And suddenly noticed the most stunning

Dark clouds above us, hanging like gods
Powerful, intriguing, interested, fatalistic,
And there, so pure and full of fantasy
A giant ferris wheel.

Such angelic beauty,
Such demonic oppression,
And there was NATURE
In its most glorious....
God-made clouds and man-made ferris wheel
And god-man-made soul, mine,
Soaring.

A Hole In Her Heart by Betina Hershey

Once Upon A Time there was a girl-woman in a very warm gray sweater sitting on her floor listening to newly found CDs of the Dave Matthews Band. She lit two candles and gazed at her Mamma's art, and worked very hard on creating an interesting selection of monologues for her acting class.
Slowly and suddenly, this girl-woman fell into a hole inside her heart. Her warmly-socked feet were up above her head and her fingers were wiggling around trying to find some kind of something - dental floss, arterial wall - to grab a hold of and haul herself back up into the world of candles and hard wood floors.
Alas, twas not to be. There she dangled, stuck in the sticky mess of her heart with a hole in it. Luckily, she could still hear the music, and there was also a blanket, so she pulled the blanket up over herself, up to the tip of her nose, and she achingly, cozily fell asleep.
Now the girl can only be found if you have a very strong heart-urge to see her. Otherwise, she has been said to have vanished completely, due to a hole in her heart.