I can't quite pinpoint

Is the caption her declaration of independence?  She needs no one to coddle her, take care of her.  She is only dependent on herself. Was she reminding the person who originally held this photo that she doesn't need them? That she can, she does and she will continue to be her sole protector and caretaker.

Or was this sent on as a benediction of hope?  Independence is a long won battle for her and she is now starting to desire a partner.  Someone to wake up with and dance in the living room with.  Someone to call her baby.  Was this picture sent as an invitation?  Oblique and easily ignored, but not by anyone who wanted to be reminded that she was out there.  And she was not just waiting, she sent out this tendril, this invitation.

Who wouldn't be tempted by that smile?

I like to think that the person who received this missive smiled, sighed and packed all their things. Took a train down the coast and knocked on her door just after supper as she was cleaning up.

She came to the door, helped drag the luggage in and they piled it in the corner of the living room.  Maybe the person turned on the radio and still without a word they simply danced together in a peace that is so rarely found.

Word Disco

I fell asleep reading last night.  Which is highly unusual. The best way normally to keep me from sleeping is reading.  I am currently reading one of those books that seems to have a larger introduction then it does actual book.  I didn't make it through the intro, but I did dream.

Words danced in my head last night. Shimmying around and gyrating their vowels. There was an old fashioned disco in my head with a square patterned floor that lit up when the spindly word feet hit them.  There was a disco ball spinning above, but I was informed that it was actually a period.  There were also disco exclamation points, commas, semi-colons and a question mark.  The question mark kept moving mysteriously about the ceiling.  Randomly appearing brightly lit and flashing neon.  Everybody grooved with anybody. I bebopped alone while you stared longingly at we. 

In my head, I danced with words.  Shimmying and gyrating we moved around the lit up floor as the music gave us a iambic pentameter beat.  I watched myself dissolve from human flesh to written type.  I tumbled apart into all the words that make me up.  My name, desires, wants, needs, fears, memories and anything that I have touched.  I flooded that dance floor with me.  It was packed tight and we danced on.  Falling apart never felt so good.

I woke up this morning sore and cotton mouthed.  I can hear pieces of myself still rattling around in my head.  The bits that haven't woken up yet.  Still lost in the post-dance sleep of exhaustion.  I brushed my teeth extra carefully, so I didn't accidentally wash bits of me out.  They will wake up, find their spaces and fit themselves back in.  The puzzle that is me will be complete again.