Coconut Curry Soup

We started in good spirits,
energetically checking
ingredients lists, running
to the market to get a
couple we missed.
Two hours later
S. was passed out on the sofa
in his pajamas.
A. and J. were still dicing peppers
and mincing garlic.
The recipe became more
and more difficult
to understand, much
less execute; garlic
shows up three times
in two paragraphs.
Another hour later,
we drenched out senses
in grilled shrimp
floating in surreal coconut
curry broth, tropical
salad and Savignon Blanc.
Another hour later, the
kitchen is empty,
all three of us asleep

in our own little
beds, dreaming

of curry soup.

Revolutionary Road: He said/She said

They agreed it was a depressing film.
.

She said:
One has to be crazy, mad, to see the truth with
wide open eyes,
to be locked up if he has the audacity
to say it
to be rushed out the door
amid profuse apologies
for disturbing the peace.
.

He said:
She has to be mad, crazy,
she’s a mother, what else to
be said, she has an obligation,
to be sane, to take care of, to love
even the world does not see her,
her husband does not see her,
she is but a womb, she has an obligation,
she has no dreams, she deserves no dreams,
she will have no dreams.
.

She said:
If no one sees you
when you cease to see yourself,
when all reflections have been shattered,
deformed, decimated, blackened,
you have no choice but to
become crazy, mad, to
no longer see anything
but darkness
the void.
.
They agreed it was a depressing
film.
.
That is all they agreed upon.

Hell Yeah

I want to go back to church
after hearing about two congregations
who would welcome an accomplished
sinner like me: Hell Yeah Church of
Love and Forgiveness, and
Scum of the Earth Church.
I received this glad news from
a distinguished gentleman who
would not provide his name or
address, nor would he accept
my offer of a drink at the bar
where I typically hang out after
work on cold winter nights.
Clearly underdressed as well,
with those weird rope sandals,
he was also oddly enamored of the
Snuggies that were featured in
the latest New York Times
Style Section.
Anyway, we chatted for a bit,
then he gracefully excused himself
saying he had others to attend to.
I wonder who he was.

Photo and article courtesy of http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/fashion/01snuggie.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=snuggie%20on%20the%20street&st=cse
Anyone who has seen these Snuggis is sure to get a kick out this article. Special thanks to Mike Durall, http://www.vitalcongregations.com/

Redemption

I watched him come in,
shoulders slumped,
hang dog, get a coffee
and stare out the window
seeing nothing except the
dark circles under his own eyes.
She sat down across from him,
her hair matted in back, mascara
smeared across her tired eyes.
She crossed her legs away from
him and he backed his chair away
from the table.
I got back to work and forgot
about them until they walked
in front of me on the way to
exit, holding hands and smiling.
Redemption and grace.

.

Photograph courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/tgkw/2372837509/

The Best Movie

It was one of the
worst movies
I’ve ever seen.
It was perfect.
One wife dumped the husband
who was cheating on her and
lying about smoking in the back.
One great guy finally married the
woman he really loved once she
accepted him without the diamond ring.
Alex, Mr. Hard to Get Cool Guy,
fell hard for the girl who never seemed
to get that guys didn’t like her.
It really was a terrible movie.
It was the perfect

salve for

a particularly

trying time.

Rage

rage subsists after awhile,
it wears itself out, the angry
waves finally breaking into
ripples which drift lazily
downstream.

Just Her

Just Her

She comes with no accoutrements,
no houses, bank accounts,
no fancy dresses or promises.
You can catch her passing smile,
travel alongside her on the same
dusty roads, carrying your own
backpack as she carries her own

small bag of treasures to pass

down to her children and children's

children, small treasures of the heart.

She will share her words that
run like rivers, an embrace,

share a good belly laugh.
She comes with no accoutrements,
love her and travel with her
if you choose, ask nothing else
in return.

Photograph courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/dhammza/76203757/