Open Wide

I overhear my upstairs neighbor and his wife argue about monogamy. He wants to sleep with other people, he's turned on by other people. She agrees for him to do this. He makes his way downstairs and flirts with me and a group of women I'm with. We are younger ballerinas visiting Colorado for a stint. We gallop through my father's old pantry, next to the washing machine where my mother hangs her Bruce Springsteen poster. As he flirts, we leap away in pirouettes. Then I'm in NYC or maybe Portland, maybe Galway Ireland. There are cobblestones and stairs and stores under apartments. I take my bike from a garage. I've forgotten my bike lock so instead I use Elmer's glue. I walk my bike up the stairs to a dance studio. I lay my naked body in front of the teacher and think about telling her how it's hard for me to come most ways. Maybe dancing will open up my body more. I'm aroused by the thought of her touching me. I open my legs wide.  

Donna Reed is my Therapist

My husband and I are on a date in Dublin. We take the bus down to the "alphabet city" version of Dublin, looking for a specific restaurant. It's dusk and the sun squeezes through purple storm clouds. I notice a wetness on the cobblestones as though it's been raining. At some point we get lost and lose one and other. My bike appears. It's a folding Dutch bike and I carry it instead of ride it. It's light in my hand.  I begin to run, looking for my husband, but not fearful that I won't find him. It's a playful run and I'm enjoying being lost in this city. I walk into a bike shop and am surprised something so new exists in a building so old. A man in the bike shop tells me to call my therapist, so I do without hesitation. She tells me to come meet her and her husband at the other side of town. I walk me and my bike several blocks away, thinking that my husband will find me, knowing that he'll know where I am. I walk up the stairs to my therapist's house. When she opens her door I see that she's Donna Reed. I'm slightly star struck. Her house is filled with porcelain knick knacks. I shake her much older husband's hand by the warmth of their fireplace. 

The alarm wakes me up and I'm disappointed to have been taken from this dream. 

The Almost Stolen Wallet

It's summer. The trees are full with leaves and the air is warm. I am riding my bicycle home from work. It's an unusual route that takes me further away from home. I park on top of a hill and decide to take the bus back. The bus stop looks abandoned, as though the bus might forget me if I were to wait there. Still, I wait with my bicycle in the warm summer sun. There are large bushes behind me and a tree covering up the bus stop sign. A man approaches me. He tells me that the bus isn't going to come for me here, that I should go to another bus stop. So I take my bike and head towards another bus stop. The man grabs my wallet from my bag. I try to run after him, but instead stand there and demand he drop my wallet. He turns around, smirks and dumps the entire content of my wallet into a bush. Everything, I say. Even my debit card. He hands over my debit card. I feel like I've won. 

The Dolly Madison Parking Lot

I'm getting ready for work and taking longer than usual. I decide to take the 6:30 am class at the gym and bring all of my stuff with me and my bicyle. The parking lot of the gym looks like the parking lot of a Dolly Madison ice cream shop that was close to my grandparents house in Denver. There are hundreds of bike parking spots, but they are filled with kids bikes, most of which have no wheels. Some sort of church potluck is happening in the parking lot as well. "Nancy made Thai food. She did her best to make it authentic." I hear a woman say. I look at the remand pink sweet looking food in aluminum containers and head inside, wondering if I should remove my red lipstick.