“Is it a Video?”
I have been so in love that all the light around me seemed white-hot. I have spent days where I only remember the smell of sunlight and skin. I have said goodbye at train stations in Europe. I have been told to not look back.
Three-Alarm Fire
The street is lined in red light
and girls with cats in cages.
Stand outside in the frigid, January air.
Good Guys vs. Bad Guys
I am baffled as I listen to TV reporters and NPR correspondents struggle to reconcile their love for someone with the terrible things that person did. We all love people who have done horrible things.
First Light
Crowds of people stand with their backs to the colors, their eyes on their phones or on the train tracks. “Turn around!” I want to say, “You’re missing it.”
Blue Monday (A Tribute to Tom Petty)
For a moment, I wondered if I should be embarrassed. Then I remembered that loving Tom Petty is not embarrassing.
Within the Veil
This is the curtain call, a standing ovation for being present. We all saw the curtain between earth and heaven rise and fall again.
Once Crossing The Hudson
The next day is exactly like the first.
We don’t check the news.
Phones die on the picnic table while we swim.
Leave Your Comfort Zone: Equinox Edition
After I signed a waiver that confirmed I wouldn’t sue Equinox if I died on the treadmill or passed out because I saw Blake Lively, we entered the immaculate studio.
15 Things I Learned from my Father
11. Marry someone who isn’t afraid to challenge you and then write them love poems. Kiss them in front of your kids even if they pretend they don’t like it.
Returning (A Love Letter)
First, this is a poem to say thank you
for taking me back to Budapest.
Instructions for Living an Untimed Life
Mostly, I pace. While I pace, I think about what I’ll make for dinner. I think about the fact that I’ll have time to make dinner because we test again tomorrow so that means no lesson planning.
I Read Fun Home in New Orleans
I examine the photos of us together on my phone. “I look like a cartoon character and you look like a Dominatrix. I’d say these fit our personalities pretty well!”
Chimera
At dinner, we held hands and prayed out loud at the restaurants. Everyone did. To different gods.
26.
Forgive me, I still haven’t learned the difference
between beautiful and important things.
Your Holiday Google Search History
What do you mix with eggnog? What is a good Christmas gift for someone you are only casually dating?
Trust Me
We made a Pop-Tart assembly line. You know, to save time. An assembly line of two people. I toasted the Pop-Tarts and my brother Andrew buttered them.
the something else
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t believe there was something else out there.
Recent Reasons to Believe in Goodness
The sun keeps rising everyday, whether you wake early to see it or not. (Every now and then, you should wake early.)
Dear Women, Just Say No.
So just say you can’t make it. Honestly, it took me a long time to learn this. I used to feel needlessly guilty for all sorts of things until my friend Bekah taught me how to say no to things.
Carpool Confessions
John has a car and offers to drive home from grad class every Tuesday and Wednesday night for three months. There are four of us for a twenty-minute drive home, and I quickly come to love the car rides and the camaraderie.
Age of Innocence
I reveled in my first watch of The OC because I wasn’t allowed to watch it in middle and high school. Shows about teenagers having sex were strictly off-limits. (However, watching Jack Bauer torture terrorists was totally fine.)
15 Things I Learned From My Mother
3. A clean sink goes a long way. Even if your carpet hasn’t seen a vacuum in months, do the damn dishes.
The Number One Conversation I Don’t Know How to Have At a Dinner Party
I also think you should know that I once used you, not by name (of course), as an illustration to my students. “Did you know,” I began, “that there are some people who know where I work and feel bad for me?”
Leap Year
The last leap year was 2012. That was the year I told myself I would take a photo every single day and create a chronological collection of three hundred and sixty-six snapshots.
Report Card
On Wednesday, your child turned in a list of ideas for creative writing assignments instead of the assigned argument essay. On Friday, I collected a love note from your child to another student in the class. It said…
Genesis
When we feel overlooked, under-appreciated, or ignored, isn’t it intoxicating to feel seen? Isn’t it easy to love someone who really knows you for who you are and still loves you anyway? This is the appeal of God.
Stumbling Upon Poetry in Paris
I am having a conversation in broken English outside a bar with a man named Matthieu. He brought up the attacks before I did, which is good, because I was terrified to bring it up, and not even sure if I should. “You are from New York, so you understand,” he explained.
Give
The number one thing I’ve learned is we have to keep giving. Give a freshly sharpened pencil to the same student every damn day. Give another sheet of paper if it means the record and preservation of the original thought of a child.
The Elements of a Relationship / Love is Periodic
Tin: Do you remember when we ate Chef Boyardee ravioli cold, out of the can, at 1:00 a.m. on January first? You got out of bed and brought it from the kitchen triumphantly, with two forks.
Six Reasons Not to Move
A new bar just opened down the street. By down the street I mean the on-foot travel time is about thirteen seconds. It was Coming Soon for weeks.
