And He Was Loved!

I recently attended a memorial service for a former student who took his life....

I taught not only this student but his older brother as well. They are super bright, military children who moved around a lot, but they seemed to have adjusted just fine to the high school where I currently teach.

The student who committed suicide was quiet, yet funny, and he was active in both his high school and college drama clubs.

Hearing about him taking his life made me think about him and his brother wondering if there were signs that we all missed. Also, wondering if there was any way possible that this entire situation could have ended differently.

However, his pastor reassured everyone present at the memorial service that mental illness is just like any other disease with outcomes that are not always what we may like. The pastor comforted us by lovingly declaring that God is with us all of the time, and this child was not alone when he took his last breathe. He was with God, and God probably shed the very first tear.

The pastor mentioned love a lot, and I have wondered, since hearing about this child’s death, if he was loved enough. However, by looking at his parents, brother, and all of the people who filled that church, it was apparent that He Was LOVED!  Knowing this child, and seeing images of him that his family displayed after the service, I know that he knew that He Was Loved.

When the pastor stated several times that He Was LOVED, I thought about Pilate, from Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, who poignantly made the declaration to every person who was present at the funeral for her beloved granddaughter, Hagar, that She Was LOVED!

"Suddenly, like an elephant who has found his anger and lifts his trunks over the heads of the little men who want his teeth or his hide or his flesh or his strength, Pilate trumpeted for the sky itself to hear, "And she was LOVED!

It was important to Pilate that everyone knew that her dear, Hagar, Was LOVED!

It seems that death always makes people think about love, and many of us wonder if the person who died knew that he/she was loved, and oftentimes we also want everyone to know that the deceased person was loved. 

My people, there is something to this LOVE THING for sure... It is mentioned in The Bible so many times, and it appears that God places high priority on it. It is stated in the word that:

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is LOVE."  (1 Corinthians 13:13)

One of the basic human needs seems to be love and it is free and should be given and received freely, all of the time, so that at the end of our lives our families can be comforted by knowing that We Were Loved!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!!

"I Wish I'd A Knowed More People. I Would Of Loved 'em All. If I'd A Knowed More, I Would A Loved More." Spoken by Pilate from Song of Solomon....

I never thought that I could love the novel Song of Solomon more, and I do. My love for this book is completely overwhelming at times. And, that love spills onto my students.....

This year, instead of teaching one AP literature class, I am teaching two AP classes. At times, the grading can be quite overwhelming, but the good definitely outweighs the bad. I now get to have discussions with double the number of students that I have in the past, and therefore, I am given more ideas to play around with.

Teaching this novel this year, I thought a lot about love, not necessarily romantic love, but just love between people.

Song of Solomon in the Old Testament in the Bible is a series of lyrical love poems that are written between a young woman and her lover. Many people believe that Song of Solomon is an allegory of God's love for us or divine love that is within our hearts. Soooo, Song of Solomon is all about love.

I thought a lot about why would Toni Morrison name this novel Song of Solomon? On the surface it appears that there is no love in this novel at all. However, after close analysis, it became clear, on this read, that this book is all about love.

Pilate, one of the main characters, stated as she was dying "I Wish I'd A Knowed More People. I Would Of Loved 'em All. If I'd A Knowed More, I would A Loved More." After I read this line and gave a lot of thought to Pilate, I realized that Pilate was love. Almost everything that she did was out of love. She almost killed a guy out of love for her daughter; she tried to save another character's life out of love; Milkman loved to be in her house, because she knew how to create love, and on and on and on. Pilate was one big ball of love.

There is a secret society in this novel that is called The Seven Days. "The organization is composed of seven Black men each of whom is assigned a day of the week who kill white people at random every time that a black person is murdered and the assailants are left unpunished" (Sparknotes). Guitar, a main character in Song of Solomon and member of The Seven Days, states: "It's about loving us. About loving you. My whole life is love." Those men, who were members of the seven days, stated that they did those killings because they loved their people; it was all about love.

A major theme in this novel is Journey and Flight, and that theme is based on an African American folktale called "The People Could Fly." In "The People Could Fly," Africans, who were turned into slaves, had special powers to fly back to African. So, Solomon, a character in the novel Song of Solomon, had the power to fly back to African, and one day he grabbed one of his children and flew away and left his wife Ryna and their other twenty-one children behind. I asked the students why did Solomon leave his wife and children behind, and one of the students stated that "Maybe he loved freedom more than this family." So, I began to think that maybe he flew away so that he could free himself and maybe find a way to go back and free his family. Maybe, his flight was all about love.

Yea, on this read, I realized that Song of Solomon is all about love.

If you have not read Song of Solomon, I highly recommend that you read it, and read it more than one time!!

I love this woman.......

Love, Not Fear, Is the Answer Maybe????

Since the 4th of July, my life has been filled with lots of people whom I actually really like, creating memories that I will cherish forever. However, today, I woke up and did not have one place that I needed to go or one person that I needed to see. So, I sort of did not know what to do with myself.

I ate my breakfast and cooked my favorite brussel sprout recipe, and I needed to leave the house. I am not one of those people who can sit in the house all day. I need to go out and see 'what the world is doing,' then I can go back home and relax. And, that is exactly what I did today; I had my eyebrows waxed and my car cleaned, and now I am in my one of my favorite places, my balcony, doing what I love to do, write.

I learned of the Trayvon Martin verdict during my Sororities' National Convention, and when I saw an older, Black woman with tears streaming down her eyes as I left the bathroom on Saturday, that image struck me in a way that I could not quite process at that time.

However, on my way back home from seeing 'what was going on the world,' I was listening to this song that says "An Incredible God Deserves Incredible Praise," and I started to cry uncontrollable. I was thinking about the fact that Trayvon Martin never got the chance to know "How Good Life Is!" I thought about a boy, walking home from the store, probably talking to a friend about something light and fun on the phone, and suddenly being robbed of life, and I thought about my own life....

My life ain't perfect, but it is good. My love for everything is deeper than it has ever been before. I love people, outdoors, my health, more than I could ever imagine. And, the more I love, the more love seems to come right back to me with the same intensity that I give it, and it feels so good......

As I was driving, I thought about the idea that at 17 and 18 years of age, most people have not tapped into that type of intense love that makes life great. Most people at 17 or 18 are concerned with themselves and their immediate needs, and I am sure that Trayvon was no different. Think about all of the things that he will never experience deeply and profoundly...My heart truly hurts at that thought, but GOD!

I think about how this incident and the verdict evoke fear. I have heard many Black mothers say that they are not sure what they should tell their sons; these mothers are fearful....

I am not a mother, but if I had a son, I would want him to do what I believe Trayvon Martin did and that is fight for his life. But the thought that fighting for ones life, might end my brown boy's life early is more than I can wrap my mind around right now...Soooo, what does a brown mother tell her brown son?

My little seven year old niece, Tia, stated that a mother should tell her son "To Be Brave, and Trust in God!" (Out of the Mouth of a Babe!)

It seems that racial tension in this country is bubbling over, and I feel a little fearful. However, I've had to remind myself that acting in fear ALWAYS leads to negative outcomes. Maybe, I and this country need to focus on love more.

So, today I am sending love to Trayvon Martin and everyone who love him, to all brown boys in the world, to my friends, to my family, to Zimmerman and his family, to the juror and their families, to this country and its racial tension, to the judge who preceded over the case, to the universe.....

AND, when I focus on the love....Fear seems to leave!

Love, Not Fear, Is the Answer Maybe?

It's Black History Month!

This is the month where we are honoring African Americans and the Power that God has given to us to not let anything control us: our thoughts, people, food, the weather, procrastination, Facebook etc.

I've already gotten a few text this morning from people who are excited about this journey and that excitement is contagious.

Laugh if you mess up, and laugh when you get it right!!!!

Enjoy This Journey, and seek encouragement when you need it.........

I can not wait to hear all of the incredible reports!

Let's Do This!

LOVE really?

Really???

So, I have been reading the One Year Bible, and for some reason or the other, I got behind on my readings. However, with the One Year Bible, getting behind is not always a bad thing, because some of the stories are better when they are read in one sitting like the story of Esther. Which is what I read tonight.

Last week when I was having one of those days, I thought a lot about people who appear to desire not to be loved. They may be grumpy, don't respond to calls or text, will say some really crazy things, and God really wants us to love those people? You know the student with the smart mouth, the one who storms out of the room while blurting out "Bitch," and I am suppose to love that student? I mean, God really must know something about us that we do not know about ourselves.

Along with reading about Esther tonight, I read about love. (Oh, Lord, here He goes again!!)

1 Corinthians 13:1-7
New Living Translation (NLT)
Love Is the Greatest
13 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it;[a] but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Now, I have read this passage before, but for some reason, I'm sure that God will reveal it to me later, this passage really caused me to think tonight! What resonated is the idea that we can have faith, be very diverse in the things that we may know, give, but we are nothing if we do not love others. I started to ask myself, what does this kind of love look like, and the word answered for itself: "patient, kind, not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way........."

The part that made me want to do a hallelujah dance is "love never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." (Deep Right?)

Love is very, very high on God's priority list so I guess we better use everyday to practice loving so that we may get closer and closer to perfection and please God!

Not sure why I wrote this post, but here it is....

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

So, today, I was going to workout at 10, go to the pool after that for some relaxation and reading, and then I was going to do my favorite Tuesday night bike ride with free food from Baja Fresh. However, Norwegian Wood slightly changed my plans.

I started reading Norwegian Wood on Saturday, and all that I have wanted to do is read this book. I finished all 270 some pages on Monday night around 10:30pm. I was so moved by this book until I wanted to write about it right after I finished. But, if you know anything about me, I am no good after 10 or 10:30pm. So, I decided to write this post in between my morning workout and pool time. Norwegian Wood is completely amazing!

The narrator of this story, Toru, tells this story through a flashback. He is on a plane and he hears the song "Norwegian Wood" by The Beatles and it causes him to reflect back 18 years to August 1969 when he was getting ready to turn twenty. And that's where this story begins. He is in college and there is a roommate, good friends, girls, drinking. All of the things that may encompass a twenty year old college student's life and sometimes shapes a person's life. (College, college, college... The good, bad, and the ugly, and we made it!!!!!!)

With this story, Murakami uses plan beautiful language to tell a lot of different people's story through the voice of Turu, and boy are the stories captivating. He starts stories and then go to other stories and picks back up with the previous story in a way that makes the reader read with urgency. (My heart was racing throughout this novel.) I am a true sucker for love, and the love scenes and love in this novel shows that love will and can show up when we least expect it, and it may not look the way that we planned for it to look. (Oh My!)

At the end of this novel, I felt totally satisfied with the idea that all of the characters were going to be ALL RIGHT! (I do love happy endings.)

Now, the author, Haruki Murakami, is a contemporary Japanese writer whose work is described as 'easily accessible, yet profoundly complex,' and I couldn't agree more. 

Norwegian Wood pretty much made Haruki a superstar in Japan, and when you read this book, you will know why. 

Haruki Murakami

This story has everything that I love for a story to have in order to make my heart happy: love, suspense, sex, great writing, peoples' life stories etc.....

There are some things that you must do for yourself and reading this book is one of them!

Now it's...............POOL TIME!

Go and buy and read this book.

I must leave you with "Norwegian Wood" by The Beatles:

Rejoice With Those Who Rejoice, and Weep With Those Who Weep! The Bible

(This post is just a whole lot of Stream of Consciousness, in other words, random thoughts!)

My sister, Tracy, and I!

If you have been reading this blog for awhile, you know that I have been reading The One Year Bible, and for those who are new to this blog, I am in the second year of reading The One Year Bible. After the first year of reading it, I was not going to read it again, but my sister, Tracy, convinced me that when I read it this time, I would see things that I did not see before. She was right, I see things this time that I did not see before, and I am more connected to the word than ever before.

The Bible!

The above passage is taken from Romans 12:10-18. I took a picture of this page from my Bible, and I read it quite often. I normally mediate on verse 15, and for some reason, it gives me peace.

Verse 15 is so important to me and it states to "rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep." Now this one is very easy for me, and I love to practice it. I love deeply; when I am in your corner, I am in your corner. I will fight with you, laugh with you, cry with you, dance with you, run with you, encourage you, tell you the truth as I know it. However, when I am not in your corner, I am not in your corner. PERIOD! (I am a work in progress.)

I am in a period in my life where I am reflecting more and thinking about what it is that I want to contribute to the world daily, and one thing that I know that I can do is to be present with myself and people whom I love, and God knows that I try to do this. I am working on being the best listener that I can be, not offering unsolicited advice, walking in another person's shoes, really rejoicing when others rejoice and weeping when others weep.

One of my friends called me the other night, and I could hear the worry and stress in her voice. I listened and empathized, and I wanted us to go to battle and solve this dilemma and bring her peace right away, but I had to remember to weep when others weep. So, I went in that dark place with her, and then we were able to think and talk things through and end the conversation in a lighter place knowing that everything works out just the way that it is suppose to.

My biggest weakness is wanting to jump straight to solutions, because I hate feeling my pain and the pain of others. I know that there is growth in pain, and it is important to feel it and move on. As I am gaining more wisdom, the pain is more intense, but so is the joy. So, I guess it's true that joy and pain are cousins.

There is this guy whom I went to Tuskegee with, Jahmal, and he puts the greatest quotes on his Facebook status. Well, today his quote really spoke to my heart: "You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; in just the same way, you learn to love by loving" by Antaole France. The first thing that came to my mind is that life is about doing, not sitting. This quote shows us that action is required in this life. We must do in order to have. "A dream comes through much activity."

Love is an action word to me. I show love through asking someone to bike with me, showing up when my friends want me or need me to be present, sending random text just to check on someone etc. One of my favorite ways to show love to my mother is by cooking for her, washing her clothes, taking her to her favorite place; the bank etc. Nothing in this world brings me more joy. On the other hand, she knows when I visit I need to exercise, hangout, and lay on her couch. The thing about our love is that I feel no pressure to do things for her, I do because I want too. She makes me feel free to do things for her, and she understands and supports my need to exercise and fellowship. I feel so free when I visit my momma.  As stated by Paulo Coelho from Eleven Minutes: "Freedom only exists when love is present."

Tonight, I am reflecting on love and showing love through "Rejoicing when others rejoice, and weeping when others weep."

Night by Elie Wiesel

Elie Wiesel

I love to read fiction novels, because I love the way that writers can use their imagination to write stories that speak to a reader's heart. Very few writers' imaginations are as great as Toni Morrison's, Stephen King, Tananarive Due, Octavia Butler and on, and on, and on.

However, Night, by Elie Wiesel, is about Elie's experience of being a young boy during the Jewish Holocaust. Reading his story is like reading a suspenseful fictional novel; he draws the reader in with the many descriptive details such as babies being used as shooting targets, people being so hungry until they eat the snow off of each others' backs, and children having to decide between saving their lives or trying to save the life of a parent.

I have taught this novel for at least the last seven or eight years, and it has never cease to move me to want to continue "The Good Fight of Faith." Elie, and many other men, women, and children, during the Holocaust, went through so many horrific incidents that would break the strongest amongst us, but some kind of way, many people who thought they could not and would not make, made it, and live to tell the story that must be told over and over to remind us of how evil WE can be, and how strong we are.

Reading this story, I thought a lot about Hitler, but I really thought a lot about all of the nameless people who helped him to completely destroy about 11 million people. The SS officers and Gesatpo were people who had families and normal lives but helped Hitler to devise and implement a plan that I hope is never, ever repeated.

It is amazing to me that people can be so awful to each other. Not sure why I am still amazed when I see stories of child abuse, rape, and random killings on a daily basis. Not sure why I like to think about the horrible things that I see on the News as something different from what happen during the Holocaust; however, both are examples of horrible things being done to people by people who walk, talk, and look just like me and you.

Everytime that I finish reading Night with my students, they say "This is so sad." I have to remind them that not all stories are happy, but there is something to be learned from every story, even the sad ones.

Readers, this book is fairly short, but the content is heavy. Read it and grow, and let's do our part to make sure that history does not repeat itself in any shape or form.

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Atonement: Making of Reparations
for a Sin or Mistakes!

Everyday, we are in some way or the other, whether we know it or not, doing things that we may need to atone for. Recently, an incident came up in my life, and I really can not remember if I did something to this person in order to get the response that I recieved. I really pondered this situation and even called a few people whom I knew would tell me the "truth," and I still could not figure out if there was anything that I did to this person that I needed to atone for. To this end, I have decided unless they tell me what I did to them to elicit such a response, it is impossible for me to atone for it, and I guess there will be no atonement.

However, the main character, Briony, in Atonement by Ian McEwan, did something that she really needed to atone for, but throughout this entire novel, I had to ask myself time and time again, if she should atone for something that she did as a kid.

So, Briony, basically spends the rest of her life trying to atone for something that she did when she was thirteen years old. She told a lie that really impacted or almost ruined so many other people's lives. However, the two main people whose lives were effected the most, her sister and the guy whom she loved and he loved her back, had three request of Briony to atone for what she did, but it is not clear in the book whether or not she ever did those three things.

McEwan is a gifted writer and storyteller who knows how to tell a story from different perspectives and with a tinge of mystery. We get to know about many of the characters' thoughts and perspectives which really makes the reader sympathetic to them. He unravels the truth very slowly and this makes the reader wants to keep on reading. I was not too happy with the ending, because I always want too see lovers live happily ever after although I know that this is not always the way things end.

This book made me think a lot about love and forgiveness and the idea that we are commanded to love and forgive. Neither love or forgiveness are easy when we must love and forgive people whom we do not want to. In the case of Briony, I can understand why her sister and her lover wanted to stop loving her and never forgive her. I know for me that I would have wanted to torture her and then maybe I would have been able to love and then forgive her. In the case with my friend that I mentioned earlier, I know that I will continue to love and will forgive, but there will have to be some changes in the relationship if I did not do anything to solicit such a response, and I do believe that change is good.

If you want a book that is well-written and is about about love, class, WWII, and atonement, than this is the book for you.

Ian McEwan

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

There is no reason for me to continue to say that I am a sucker for a good love story, but for the sake of love, I am going to say it again "I am a sucker for a good love story."

Esquivel is an Mexican writer who often explores the relationship between men and women in Mexico in her works. She is best known for Like Water for Chocolate which is a combination of novel and cookbook. (What a great combination: great story and great food?)

In this love story, she does a great job of showing how good food and family traditions are very important in the Mexican culture. At the beginning of every chapter she gives a recipe for a dish, and she weaves this great story into the making of the dish. (She does this with so much love.)

The characters are people that you may absolutely love: Tita who is a sucker for love; Gertrudis who is strong and tough but is a sucker for passionate love; Chencha who is a loving, understanding companion and maid; and Esperanza who finally breaks the family tradition for love.

This book is such a delight to read. If you want something quick and fun, read this book.

Love and Spring are in the air!!



Laura Esquivel

Something Like Beautiful by asha bandele

The gifted writer asha bandele!

1 Corinthians 13:13:And now these three remain: faith, hope and

love. But the greatest of these is love.

I am a true sucker for love. I love great love stories; they really make my heart glad. But, I am learning that love does not always have the type of ending that we think it should. Love takes all types of shapes and forms. There are people who love each other, but really can't stand to be around each other for long, there are people who love each other, but for whatever reason or reasons, they just can't be together. But one thing that I know for sure is that self love is really the greatest love of all, and it does conquer all. Once we really love and accept ourselves, it becomes so much easier to love and accept others with our whole heart. Love is soooo good.

With that being said, asha bandele sho' nuff knows how to write a good love story. She puts words together in a way that makes her books seem urgent, it seems as if she is trying to tell the entire story in one breathe, while the reader anxiously sits and listens and hate for that one breathe to end.

The first book that I read by asha bandele was The Prisoner's Wife, and all I can say about this book is that it is a love story like no love story that I have ever read. It is written in a fashion that makes the reader want to really support this love, really want this love to overcome every obstacle, and really have a happy ending. (Those fairy tales have surely messed a lot of us up.) I met asha at the Essence Festival in New Orleans, and I ran up to her and said, "What happened to you and Rashid?" I really wanted this story to have a happy ending like Cinderella's!

With The Prisoner's Wife, asha had me hooked with the first paragraph:

"This is a love story like every love story I had always known, like no story I could ever have imagined. It's everything beautiful--bright colors, candle-scented rooms, orange silk, and lavender amethyst. It's everything grotesque, disfigured. It's long twisting wounds, open and unhealed, nerves pricked raw, exposed."

After this first paragraph to emphasize that this IS a love story, asha continues to repeat "This is a love story," and she uses many, many analogies to describe this love such as "it's an Alvin Ailey dance," and if you have ever seen the Ailey Ailey dance troupe, you know exactly what she is talking. If you have not seen the Alvin Ailey troupe, please go and see them and see how tragically, beautifully those dancers dance. Tragically beautiful because while they are dancing no one is smiling, the audience is really looking in disbelief and wondering how can anyone move his body like that. But, once the dance is over, the entire audience breathes and smiles with relief because the tragically beautiful dances ends without one flaw that is noticeable to the audience.

When I finished reading The Prisoner's Wife, all I could do was shake my head and say my, my, my......... I really wanted more. And, almost twelve years later, asha has given us more of that love story with Something Like Beautiful.

With Something Like Beautiful, asha picks up where The Prisoner's Wife left off. Asha, and Rashid, her prisoner husband, has had a daughter, and asha must deal with the fact that she and Rashid will more than likely never be together. This book is her journey to deal with being in love with a man who may never get out of prison, being a single mom, being adopted, being molested as a child, alcohol abuse, physical and emotional abuse from a lover, depression, and in this midst of all of these struggles, finding herself and realizing that "And if it did, if all of this happened on my watch and if it is not simply my cross to bear, but a cross that I allowed and that I willingly offered to carry alone, I want to say I'm sorry." 

Asha tells this story just as beautifully as she told the first part of this story in The Prisoner's Wife. This girl really knows how to tell a story.

Asha and I are around the same age, and reading her story, I could really identify with asha going on a journey to be present everyday in her life, because that is just where I am. Once I turned 40, this huge light bulb came on in my life, and I was able to see my life clearly because of this new light. (Thank God for Light.) I made a conscious decision to show up wherever I am on any given day in any given moment, because I want to be present in my life and in the lifes of the people whom I care about. 

Asha pretty much sums up how I feel and many other women feel who are on this incredible journey called life. Women who are determined to ride this thing out for all that it is worth. Here is what she says in a conversation with her sister:

"But I want to claim my life now, for all that it has been and all that it has not been..... This is my life... I want to have it and have it fully, no matter what that means."

These two books by asha bandele are works of art..... and all I can do is wave my hand!

Read these books PLEASE, and let's have a conversation!!!!!

February is a GOOD month!

February is a good month for three reasons: the Alvin Ailey Dance Troupe, Love, and the celebration of Black History.

Every February, the Alvin Ailey Dance Troupe comes to the Kennedy Center in DC. I look forward to this event the same way that someone may look forward to a good meal, meeting friends on an island, or anything else that may bring a person complete joy.

February is also when we celebrate Valentine's Day. I know that there are people who look to this day with dread, complete joy, anxiety etc. I look to this day and month as an opportunity to relish in all of the love that I give and receive throughout the year. I love LOVE!

BLACK HISTORY MONTH....need I say more? I love Black History! I can read and hear about Black History every day. I just can't get enough. On that note, I am so grateful that Carter G. Woodson pushed to have this month set aside to focus on Black History... I focus on it all of the time, but it is so great to have other people focus on Black History at the same time.

So, February is always a good month for me.

I want to leave you with a LOVE poem:

Resignation by Nikki Giovanni

I love you
because the earth turns round the sun
because the North wind blows north
sometimes
because the Pope is Catholic
and most Rabbis Jewish
because winters flow into springs
and the air clears after a storm
because only my love for you
despite the charms of gravity
keeps me from falling off this Earth
into another dimension
I love you
because it is the natural order of things

I love you
like the habit I picked up in college
of sleeping through lectures
or saying I’m sorry
when I get stopped for speeding
because I drink a glass of water
in the morning
and chain-smoke cigarettes
all through the day
because I take my coffee Black
and my milk with chocolate

because you keep my feet warm
though my life a mess
I love you
because I don’t want it
any other way.

I am helpless
in my love for you
It makes me so happy
to hear you call my name
I am amazed you can resist
locking me in an echo chamber
where your voice reverberates
through the four walls
sending me into spasmatic ecstasy
I love you
because it’s been so good
for so long
that if I didn’t love you
I’d have to be born again
and that is not a theological statement
I am pitiful in my love for you

The Dells tell me Love
is so simple
the thought though of you
sends indescribably delicious multitudinous
thrills throughout and through-in my body
I love you
because no two snowflakes are alike
and it is possible
if you stand tippy-toe
to walk between the raindrops

I love you
because I am afraid of the dark
and can’t sleep in the light
because I rub my eyes
when I wake up in the morning
and find you there
because you with all your magic powers were
determined that
I should love you
because there was nothing for you but that
I would love you

I love you
because you made me
want to love you more than I love my privacy
my freedom my commitments
and responsibilities
I love you ’cause I changed my life
to love you
because you saw me one Friday
afternoon and decided that I would
love you
I love you I love you I love you