Category: Love
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My Book for Sale
Dance First …ask questions later: poems & paintings by Shé is now available for purchase. The e-book includes more than 100 poems and 70 artworks spanning 45 of my hard-won years. To celebrate, I sang loudly and danced exuberantly along shore. Variations on the theme Hallelujah! rang through my brain throughout the day, including versions by George…
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Perseverance
“What’s within you is stronger than what’s in your way.” –Antoinette Lee Toscano via the anthology, Women and Water, edited by Straub, Russell, and Hirst What’s in my way, usually, is self-doubt. I once interviewed a dancer for an article about international perspectives. I came away from it wishing for even a small dose of her…
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Undeniable
When I was in third grade, Ms. Robinette sent me up to the fifth grade wing of Will Rogers Elementary to study poetry with the big kids. She recognized my quick and hungry brain, and figured this was one way to divert boredom. I had recently picked out a pair of bright blue wooden clogs…
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All are Hallowed
I’m in the land where folks celebrate death, realizing that it’s merely part of the cycle. Grinning, bedecked skeletons hang from every corner, and bedsheet ghosts waft from trees and doorways. Spooky music emanates from bars and groceries alike, and sugary treats are placed on altars for the dead, along with flowers and candles. A…
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Soniferous Fish
Learning about singing fish illuminated an aspect of human behavior recently. Many species of fish sing seasonally, as a mating call, and can be quite loud. So that thumping bass emanating from the dune-buggy at 4 a.m. is really saying, “Choose me, choose me. Ch-ch-ch-ch-choose ME.” Same with the battle of the bands on a…
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Surfing Sexism
“It took me a year, and I’m a man,” said the ovary-deprived human. He’s surprised that I am refinishing Habibi’s hull alone. “Maybe it took you a year because you’re a man,” I don’t say because I am polite. Turns out I’ve just bought a flexible sander from a member of the penis gallery, and I am…
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Move It
Moving is traumatic. So why have I been traveling for 12 solid years? Granted, I stopped here and there for six to 12 months, but no place has felt like Home. It may surprise you to learn that I am a nester, given my proclivity for buying mobile abodes: first a tiny house on wheels,…
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Underwater Realm
Not only is gravity suspended under water, time seems to be as well. Hoi polloi noises are muffled, and I float through flocks of small fish. Little forests of seaweed waft in the longshore current, and mosaic’d swimmers dart suddenly away when they realize they’ve been spotted. Stingrays leave round depressions in the seabed, and…
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Back Off : Peace
“I’m not going to let you weasel out of it,” said my date, grabbing my arm and planting a sloppy kiss on my cheek. My cheek, because I quickly turned my mouth away from the incoming. Since when is kissing mandatory? Since when is kissing NOT consensual? Since when does anyone have a right to…
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Dogged
A few weeks ago, on the way to the grocery store along the train tracks, I was beset by a pack of dogs. Nearby humans were completely uninterested in my safety. I whirled in circles shouting “NO!” palms out, but still one darted in and nipped my calf, twice. Did not break the skin, but…
essays by shé 