Small Stone 2/28

The only unmelted snow sits on the windshields of parked cars.

SS 2/27

Feather-light snow flakes fall slower than the rain drops.

Small Stone 2/26

A crescent shaped cradle glows in the dark.

Small Stone 2/25

 Toothpaste leaves my lips tight and tingling.

Small Stone 2/24

Multiple layers in different stages of drying disintegrate under the hot water; clumps, goo, and latex skin shrink to rubbery strings which my fingernails scrape from the bristles.

Small Stone 2/23

My hands are crusted over in dried spackle. While still moist, the paste was light and fluffy like whipped cream, except that instead of oozing and dripping between my fingertips, it crumbled.       

Sall Stone 2/23

The ducks, from the pond they call a lake, are calling out tonight, and one is yowling like a cat in heat.

Small Stone 2/21

Leaving his black SUV parked on the dirt shoulder, a thirty-something, dressed California-casual in flip-flops and shades, leads a dog on a leash while picking wild sunflowers beside the desert highway.

Small Stone 2/20

THE SMELL OF FRESH PAINT

Sour milk and jewelry cleaner

The Mediterranean room on Magnolia that we could never afford to finish

Sharp like vinegar

The panic of preparing for a baby born almost a trimester too early

Two separate nurseries in a house that would never feel like home no matter how pretty it looked

The one

Stronger in the heat of summer

Becoming more pleasant with every memory attached

Alcohol

Backaches

A copper repousse above my bath tub

The last twelve of the past fourteen years

Company's coming

Home

Small Stone 2/19

A little old Asian lady was getting cozy on the couch, in front of the entertainment center. The younger man (her son?) helped her out, draped the red blanket over her lap, and once she was properly posed - snap, snap, snap - he began taking the planned photos of her... In the middle of Ikea.!?

Small Stone 2/18

The muscles around my cheekbones have been stretched taught in laughter for a few hours now, and the pain radiates from my face, into my neck and ears. It's a small and worthy price to pay.

Small Stone 2/17

On the surface of cooled coffee, cream has separated into an atlas of filmy continents.

Small Stone 2/16

Standing in the only pocket of sunlight in the courtyard, heat slithers down my chilled, bare neck and shoulders, thawing me from the outside in.

Small Stone 2/15

In the driveway, long after the ice pellet attack has subsided, I sit in the jeep, drying under the blast of the heater, soaking up the velvet sound of Justin Nozuka's voice promising "...if the love is right, you won't have to look up at the stars..."

Small Stone 2/14

AF-TER-SHOCKS !

Small Stone 2/13

A cold, dull knife is stabbing my brain.

A Second For Sunday - Small Stone 2/12 (#2)

I'm chasing words that run faster than me, and when I finally catch up, there are too many to count; so when you speak, and I don't respond, it's because I'm still catching my breath, barely clinging to the tail of a thought that already passed with the moment.

Small Stone 2/12

The moment was stolen,
it should've never been.

She should've been in her bed,
should've been asleep,
instead, she was in my arms,
charming me with kisses - 

kisses that should've never been.

The moment was stolen,
and all that much sweeter.

Small Stone 2/11

It's a pink and purple princess hell of velvet and tulle, with heart shaped red cookies, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut in the shapes of crowns, and all the little girls in their gowns are jumping in an inflatable castle.

Small Stone 2/10

It's springtime in February, and all chores are abandoned today, replaced with a bike ride and a drive-in movie.

Small Stone 2/9

She's four, and singing along with just as much broken-hearted conviction as Adele:
"Should I give up, or should I just keep chasing penguins?"

Small Stone 2/8

It's a luxury balm, not the cheap stuff, and you can tell by the silky consistency; it's more cream and less grease than the average. It has a sharp spearmint flavor  with floral notes like perfume, and it's as sweet as candy.

Small Stone 2/7

Dave Matthews

Crush

It only takes one note, that very first measure of music, and the song is in my veins, warm honey flowing; and when he sings "lovely lady, let me drink you please," I am consumed.

Small Stone 2/6

He thought he was going to play hard to get.

Amateur.

Small Stone 2/5

It's the first time in years I've driven back to this place; the streets have changed names and there's a new roundabout when you exit, but the rock is still there, the weedy desert mountain that always appears only steps away from their house.

Small Stone 2/4

Among the aisles in Walmart is an ocean of red and pink hearts; on plush animals and boxes of chocolates, on cheap jewelry and even cheaper perfume, on wrapping paper and greeting cards, on every sign and streamer, and on little chalky candies that advertise sentiments that are too cheesy to say out loud.

Small Stone 2/3

There is one guy among the group of college students who are discussing fundraising, and though I don't hear the entire question he's asking the ladies, I catch "Would you be offended...  Justin Beiber throwing... at you?"  with an accent on 'Justin Beiber' as though he's the variable that changes everything in this equation.

Small Stone 2/2

Too tired to be reading a novel full of ancient Spartan names that I could never pronounce, I keep reading the same sentence over and over again, and with each attempt, by the time I make it to the period, my eyeballs are jiggerbating, and I'm the same five words short of comprehension.

Small Stone 2/1

The room looks as though my girls threw a party, and used their clothing and Littlest pet shop toys as confetti.

Small Stone 1/31

School's out, and the campus erupts with a mass of little bodies that flood the block along with their parents' automobiles.