SCARF. SENDAI

SCARF.  THURSDAY, 7 MARCH 2013.  SENDAI
Winter - it's almost over.

TOKYO. 28/07/2012. SHOE

I didn't see the train standing there.

I thought it had already wooshed its doors closed

while we were kissing upstairs

at the gates

under the fluorescent lights that flattered all the yellow in our skins and the blood in the shot eyes.

But it was still standing there

As I dawdled on the stair

Distracted by an A3 promise of paradise in Hawaii

and day dreaming about your mouth

1,2,3 steps faster and I could've made it.

The tin can is     alreadydrawingitsdoorsanditsbreathbefore          lurrrr  chingforward.

I should curse my takingoftimeness.

The lost extra minutes in duvets.  A lunch that could've been packed.   Laundry that won't get hung.

                                                But now I have 11 minutes to think about your teeth

Road Naps

TEDDY BEAR.  15 JUNE 2012.  SENDAI, ON THE BIKE RIDE TO THE PREFECTURAL FOREST

Sometimes your head is too heavy and your legs are too short and all you can do is lie in the road and keep breathing until someone picks you up or runs you over.

Minnie and Mickey

Minnie and Mickey both reached for the last carton of milk in the grocery store and blushed.
Minnie and Mickey went for dinner at an Italian restaurant.
Minnie and Mickey held hands as the fireworks danced over the river.
Minnie and Mickey had their first kiss in the rain.
Minnie and Mickey were married in the spring.
Minnie and Mickey bought a lovely house.
Minnie and Mickey filled their lovely house with lovely things.
Minnie and Mickey had a lot of bills.
Mickey worked later and later.
Minnie discovered that daytime TV was a lot better after a few glasses of cooking sherry.
Mickey snored and sometimes slept on the couch.
Minnie decided that daily showers were optional.
Mickey slept on the couch every night.
Minnie couldn't speak without shouting.
Mickey got his own apartment, with his own bed.
Minnie should've gotten a better divorce lawyer.

Hey Cowboy!

Please, don't flirt with me if you don't mean it.

Don't twinkle your eye from across the room

Or sneak your hand around my waist

If I am not the one that you want.

If I am an ego boost

Or a convenient distraction

Or a snack to starve off the lonely cravings

Then, please, leave me alone.

The guards are tired from spearing any glimpse of feeling I have for you

Because you don't want any responsibility for the health of my heartbeat.

I can't keep pretending that I'm so cool realcool icecool

that I can listen to you ooze about other women

as you claim my knee with your palm.

So, if you're not going to hold my hand as we walk home 

or bundle me in snuggles when we wake up

and steal as many kisses as you can before I leave 

and feel lucky that I said, "Ok"

and call the next day,

just 'cause 

and want to do it all over again

With Feeling!

Then rewind your witty line

and take your hand off my ass

and play it for somebody else.

Please, if you don't mean it,

just

don't.

Lovers in Yokohama

Bicycle. Yokohama.

Saturday, 14 August 2010.

The tire died on a sullen afternoon.

She had walked out on her lover, abandoned him in the smoky haze of the cafe. Too many little lies poured over cups of coffee. She had to move quickly before his voice, his words, would wrap around her and call her back and she wouldn't be able to leave.

She had barely escaped when the wheel fell to pieces. She heard his voice from the door of the cafe - muffled through the crowd, but it was him. He was approaching.

The bicycle was tossed against the fence. She ran to the street. The voice, closer, closer. A taxi her messiah.

She had meant to go back the next day, and then the day after that, and then the day after that. She could not afford the risk of his voice still lingering there.

BOOT!

Boot keyring. On the way to elementary school.

7 September 2010. The boot had served the boy well for three months. It was garish enough that no-one ever tried to steal it and made him feel cool that he could pull of something so uncool.

But then there was this girl with a ponytail that went 'woosh' and his heart went BOOM! She laughed at it.

The colours now clashed a little too much. It was a little too big to be cute.

It was ugly.

His hand hovered over the bin. He couldn't condemn his key chain buddy to its grimy depths. He hooked it onto fence, hoping that someone would give it a home and that Ponytail would kiss him.

Already he hated whoever found it.