TALK

The words pour from your mouth like a waterfall,

No matter the topic, no matter the audience.

A professor, you lecture. You’re classroom’s the world.

How lucky must I be then, to have the ability

To render you speechless with talk of ‘us’.

A LITTLE STORY FROM MY DOGS PERSPECTIVE

They all love me pretty quickly, the people i meet.

“It’s her eyes.” My mamma tells people. Apparently I have ‘sweet eyes’, whatever that means.

They always want to pet me and play with me and they talk to me much more than they do with Shifty- thats my sister, shes been here longer than I have.

I don’t think people love Shifty as much as they love me. They say her name and try to pet her, but when she doesn’t respond or looks at them funny they stop trying.

Only a few people really love Shifty, like my mamma and my friend Tequi’s mamma. But they don’t love her the way they love me- or Tequi.

They love Tequi and I by playing with us and cuddling us and teaching us how to be good so they won’t have to scold us so often. They give us toys and sometimes even play with those toys with us.

But with Shifty, They love her by saying sorry when they make her jump, or by leaving the couch so she can sit on it alone. They love her by letting her come to them for pets and slacking on her training.

My papa loves her too, but he’s not as good at it. He approaches Shifty too fast and scares her too often, but I think he doesn’t mean for it to happen .

And I know that Shifty loves papa too. She’s told me as much. Papa goes on longer walks and finds tastier food for us. Usually he forgets he’s a papa, but when he remembers he tries to make up for it.

Shift says mamma and papa fight sometimes. They don’t bite each other but sometimes mamma barks loudly at papa and then gets very sad while he gets very quiet- papa isn’t usually quiet. He loves to tell people things.

Shifty also says sometimes mamma leaves and she either goes with her or stays. And when this happens she never knows how long it will be before they are all back together again.

Personally, I only just found this little family and I really hope we can all stay together always. And that includes Tequi, Murphy, Panda and their mammas and papas too.

THE EX

I thought the whole thing was weird from the get go, but I was never upset about it. The fact that no one acknowledged the weirdness however….. Well I wouldn’t say I was ‘upset’ about it but it definitely didn’t help me feel comfortable. And it’s all emphasized by how completely different we are. 

She thanked me once- I think it was the second time we’d met- she thanked me and asked me why I was being so nice to her. I explained that I didn’t have any reason not to be. ‘Weird’ isn’t a good enough reason to be anything less than nice. Still, I think I would have appreciated if our man in common hadn’t allowed me to become a spectacle in that moment: by myself, cornered by drunken girls who are all demanding me to ‘be meaner’ while he silently looked on with the others. 

Another time he left us alone together. He asked me to hang out with them and then left me alone with her. And the fact that I wasn’t comfortable getting drunk with my man’s ex while he wasn’t there went entirely ignored. 

It’s not that she makes me uncomfortable. Not at all. But the whole situation, having to be a part of each others lives while being each others opposites… well, it’s not without tension. And I guess it would be nice to have someone say ‘I know you didn’t ask for this, I know you weren’t given anything resembling a choice in the matter, so I want you to know that I appreciate how well you’re handling this and how easy you’re both making things for each other.’

I think the moment when my whole perspective on the situation changed was when we where out together and after 6 hours of being completely out of my comfort zone, I couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. She didn’t hesitate take my side and come to my aid. She didn’t hesitate to do the things I always hope he will do… but never does. She had my back and didn’t care that I was ‘being emotional’ or ‘making a scene’. Instead she cared about the fact that I was in destress and that our relationship was being stressed. She cared about the things I wish he would care about. 

It’s possible that she want us to work out because I’m her best case scenario in a ‘new girlfriend’ and that’s okay because as far as ‘the ex’ goes she’s mine. 

OPPOSITES ATTRACT

He drinks in knowledge, 

Always thirsty for understanding. 

Science videos, podcasts, books-

The topic’s not as important 

As the overwhelming details. 

.

I think space is cool,

But thinking about it too hard

Gives me a headache, 

If not a sense of panic.