Chrissy devoured her men

in bites of delight,

sometimes she liked chocolate

and other times white.

She’d tire of her man

and go on to another

but no one could tell her

she had too many lovers.

The gents were for all seasons

and reasons, of course,

she liked them virile

but not too dumb,

she might want to talk

when lovemaking was done.

She turned on to men

who were strong and tall,

talented in bed

with tricks up their sleeve.

But sometimes, she wanted

an athletic man

who could twist and turn

like a Gumby.

For a change

in her lineup,

she wanted cerebral,

figuring her taxes

with pockets of money

to pay all her bills.

She went through

so many,

then tossed them aside.

She knew in her heart,

the names had changed

but they were all the same

and she had to acknowledge

that she was to blame

because she believed

she also was the same.

Five years old: He passed away.

Ten years old: He was murdered

Six years old: Just a little baby fat.

Eleven years old: *behind her back* She's put on a few pounds

Seven years old: Our dog ran away, lives on a farm now.

Twelve years old: The dog got hit by a car

Eight years old: When a man and a woman love each other very much...

Thirteen years old: It's sex. That's how babies are made

Nine years old: Nothing's going to happen to you.

Fourteen years old: This world's such a scary place but hopefully you won't get caught in the cross-fire.

It's all the same, only the names have changed.

Years ago. When I had a reason for stupid faith.

I listen to your voice through the static on the phone. Distance defies the desperation in your voice.

I don't know where he is? He was... with...he...I don't know where he is.

I shake my head as I watch him play on thr pier. He looks at back at me never questions the conversation. His little swimmers droop and he's pleading for the water.

I don't know I say. And hang up the phone. Because he's running in my direction. Holding the straps of a toddlers life preserver in his hands. I buckle him up and watch as he fearlessly jumps in. "I'm Batman" I laugh as I ease my way into the Cumberland river.

Two weeks ago you were too high to care and he was scared. He smelled of jack daniels and weed and urine. In a dirty shirt with a dirty face.

His eyes had widened when I walked in. The apartment was rank with the scent of beer and cheap whickey and vomit. A frat party scene with my boy in his diaper.

I had picked him up and for a moment there was mild protest as I walked away. 2 weeks later you realize he's gone and something amazing happened inside my head....I didn't care that you were sad, worried, crying. I cared that he was happy. He's jumping off Noah's Dock and he's smiling and safe. I didn't care about you in that moment.

Too old too fall for this

The names have all changed but it's all the same.

Static through the state lines and your voice. Feigning concern. Did he like the ocean? Did he see the waves?

Do you wanna to your mother lil man? He looks at the castle in the sand and back at me. I guna dance at a weddin.

I've taken pictures I say and I'll send them to your Mama.

I love you you say. And right now I don't care and so I go silent. Dont do this.

What? I say. Fill in for you? And it's thr end and I know it. Because I can't respect a pathetic bitch.

So I hang up the phone and your son takes my hand. And my heart breaks with every step but his excitement and the wonder in his eyes makes it all go away.

And all I can hope is that he'll remember the waves, the first flight, the sandcastles and the wedding dance. And that one day he'll know I never left him.

You're all the same only the names change

Every day even better days

It seems we're wasted away I say

Another place it's all the same

Where the faces are so cold they don't show

I drive all night in city lights

Just to get back home where she lies all alone

I'm a cowboy nothing less nothing more

On a steel horse I ride or die

I'm wanted wanted

Dead or alive pure or stained mind

Abaddon. Azazel. Leviathan. Beelzebub. Satan. Lucifer.

They are all the same. 

Those demons inside our heads,

Invading our inner voices,

Telling us we are too weak,

Haunting our fears,

Possessing our bodies,

Crumbling our morality,

Breaking down our humanity,

Gripping us with insanity,

Leaving us with nothing,

Yet promising us everything.

There is always complication in history

There are always stories intertwined with stories

intertwined in the way we say goodbye.

History repeats and we all stand and watch it

It's funny how you never know the world is changing

until it's crammed inside your textbooks

History repeats and watches as we become it

These highway wanderers

with dirty ankles on scuffed heels

in plastic skirts and bangles

with patchwork backpacks.

They snap gum and

twist bleached curls

around thin smoke-stained fingers

dipped in chipped polish.

Old and yet young,

their scent fills the cabin

as they lean in close

for a whispered price.

I collect them all.

Amy.  Frannie.  Jenny. Liz...

Each name

the same prize

that only I keep

when they are gone.

“My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being.”

"My bride is here," he said, again drawing me to him, "because my equal is here, and my likeness. Jane, will you marry me?"

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet"

I read these stories – love stories –

and though it’s about them,

I feel it could be about us.

Whoever has been in love

or unrequited love,

cherished or hurt,

blissful or sceptical,

betrayed or faithful,

they read between the lines.

Although all love stories are beautiful,

I like ours the best.

Even though it’s the same,

and only the names have changed.

It's all the same romance, with the lovers and cheaters always changed.

It's all the same horror tale, with innocent faces blood-covered.

It's a story of hilarity and insanity with the jokes and laughs of the deranged.

It's just a tale of adventure repeated, with the same new things discovered.