Even though it is Saturday, we are up early, and the cafe is not packed with people yet. Ian opens the door for me, and I walk up to the counter. Ian is a small distance behind me as he holds the door for a woman with a child. Claire is working the till and taking orders today. "Hello, Annie," she says. "Latte and chocolate croissant?" "Yes, please," I say. "And what will you have?" I ask Ian when he has caught up with me...

They whisper around my legs, Ache through and ring hollow in my chest. A feeling of absence and I know he is gone and lost. Each one as special and beautiful as the last ghost that passed through me, leaving the inside of my chest bloodless and icy. I know, now, the exact moment it has happened Practice, practice makes perfect. October Nineteenth at one-twenty-two, Three-ten December Second, eight-oh-four April Eleventh....

Many years ago, my husband and I went to swingers' clubs, but we had a problem. We kept trying to find the perfect couple where the guy was to my liking and his woman was to my husband's liking, but sadly that was rarely possible. If I liked the guy, the woman was distasteful to him, and vice versa. I did "Take one for the team" once, which was a horrible experience that just made me want to wash afterward. Some examples...

Ian pulls into the garage of his house and we go in through the back door into the kitchen. We have the lightning tour. Everything is tidy as I suspected it would be, and clean. He tells me he has a husband and wife whip through every two weeks who make things spotless whether they want to be spotless or not. After the tour, I chop tomatoes and Ian grates some cheeses and soon we are having some very good omelets and sipp...

I had hoped to be wanted and wanton, free of the cage that is built around me, a tight brown box that no longer fits my expanded soul. Just wanton and wanted for a few hours, hair down, blouse unbuttoned, one shoe on, not contained, hard hands that want me on my soft body. I don't like this feeling. I am rejected, fallen from my hopeful horse. Maybe just by circumstance, but the result is the same, Pushed down in the stic...

By a trick of light, I see me I see the poet, the slut, the storyteller the liar, the lover romantic and obsessed, the part-time whore The stressed mother, deciding how far money will go and what she can do without herself Frantic, anxious, numb Anorexia and ice cream I see guilt and triumph, burnt letters, pettiness, revenge, anger that eats away smiles Long, open legs spread wide, leading smoothly to my cunt, wet and wa...

You have been slipping in and out In and out of my dreams, waking and sleeping for months on end I keep coming back to you, the way the sun shines on you through the windows My golden man, filling me with tiny tinted crumbs of your life savory and sweet in my mouth each one a treasure to taste. Your kindness climbs through my body, a vine, holding me tightly to earth It's when you tangle my hair in your fingers, cup my br...

My first husband was Rich, a terrible husband only two seconds long The man who owns me is Rich, keeps me in a castle and I taste his dreams The man who borrows me is Rich too. My husband is John The glory of Galway is Jon The other John plays too rough for me The sweetest John can't ever let himself have me; a good man. The first Richard made me poor The second Richard showed me my worth The last Richard is just borrowed...

I wake up, and something is wrong. I'm on the wrong side of the bed. I sit up and see the dent in the other pillow, the covers pulled up. Ian. Holy mother of god, I remember all of Ian, and he is not in the bed. I listen, but everything is silent. I am alone in the flat. The clock says it's 7:30. The sky is overcast. I get out of bed and find my robe. My clothes from the night before are folded on the armchair. Except for...

I blindfold you and tie your hands together above your head. Not painfully, just so you can't touch me. I like looking at you naked on the bed. I sit at your side, not touching you yet, just looking at your body. Breathing, you can hear me well with your eyes covered. I kiss your lips, my breasts brushing your chest, and then I move away. My knee touches your hip. I get up and stand at your feet, your lovely body before m...

Waiting, water in my mouth You plant me on my knees, waiting, your hand in my hair its softness running like water through your fingers I look up at you, hold onto your thighs, strong and thick I want you closer, want to taste you and I part my lips Wetting them with my clever tongue Waiting and planted by you on my knees You know I'm yours You look down into my eyes the color of an angry ocean in the sun, Blue and grey a...

I know who I am I am still a little girl in a woman's needy body I'm the one who wants and wants and when my hand is holding yours, I dream it will be forever I will always be safe in a world of giants, When you have tasted these lips you will want no others, When I have given you everything, it will be enough. It isn't You know there are others, better than me, with more than I have, different lines, different thighs, bo...

It was a usual morning for an ordinary day. I woke up to the pretty light coming into my bedroom windows. They overlooked a little park with big old trees. In the mornings people walked their dogs and children played in the park. Then the retired people and their small dogs and canes came in the early afternoon, or just with canes if they didn't have a dog. In the late afternoons, teenagers hung out in the park. The late...

Standing in the kitchen, naked in the dark, only dim yellow light from the clock, I listen to my heart beat, the sounds of a silent house Something woke me, told me to see if you were awake somewhere I add the numbers, it's too early for you, too late for me I cup my breast, wishing it were your hand squeezing me, fingers stroking the soft skin, thumb waking my nipple Both my hands now, pretending to be you, warm, gentle,...

Watching the trees pass, green fields, raindrops slide on the glass. Quiet, wet tires on wet road, wipers going, music. Green lands, cows, dots of sheep on a steep hill. I look at you, strong hands on the wheel, relaxed, watching ribbons of road, driving. I study your ear, the ways it curves and curls, where it is soft, your face in profile, your mouth, your hard jaw. The tickle of being watched disturbs you and you look...