I love you. Ok, not really. I might not even know you, but even if I don’t know you, I might love you if I did. Or maybe I do know you and do love you. In that case, I’m not kidding. For you, I doodle stars on the backs of receipts with glitter ink when we talk on the phone. I spin in circles the minute we part until I am almost as dizzy as I am when I am with you. I give the olives from my drink to you even though I love olives too. I will play the low part of heart and soul, even though I like playing the high part better. I will glue maps of all the states between us together in case you ever want to find me. Or, I will meet you halfway. Even if halfway is the middle of nowhere, I will learn the difference between beefsteak and heirloom tomatoes, and then we will grow your favorite. I will answer your call at seven in the morning, even on a Saturday, so you can tell me the embarrassing thing that happened on your date. I will have a sandwich ready-- pimento cheese with mayo, lightly toasted and folded in half--when you walk in my door. We can have white wine, I don’t mind. Let me fetch you some ice cubes. I will buy you a cupcake, even though you can make your own for twenty-five cents. I will tell you the truth. I'll lie to you. Both at the right times. And, mostly, I’ll give you whatever part of my body you most need: a hand, a shoulder, an ear, lips, an elbow, eyelashes. And, if you seem kind and willing to tolerate indecisiveness at restaurants, my heart.
Usually, for me, one of the following two thoughts is provoked by Valentine's Day: A) Why didn’t you send me roses, you cheap bastard? or B) Ugh. You sent roses. Now I have to pretend to like them, you sentimental sap. However, I think I will celebrate this year by offering Valentines in the form of songs, dedicated to ones who in some form I love: eros, philia, or agape.
Akron/Family- Love, Love, Love. This one goes out to all of you, because we all should go out and love, love, love, everyone. Wouldn’t this place be nicer? Wouldn’t you be less lonely? Think how much easier merging on the highway would be. We could all just get where we were going without the mess. Just cars and love driving around, less horn honking and more “oh, look! birds are migrating up there. Must be time rake the leaves so we can take turns jumping in them.”
Simon & Garfunkel- April Come She Will. This is for The Graduate, from the soundtrack. He is forever in my mind a solar system, little elliptical planets marching in line. I note the alliteration. He counts the syllables. All of them are inhabited by goldfish, palm trees, and out of the ground, string cheese grows like grass. All the moons are nice, but I am the goodnightest of them all.
You & Me- Dave Matthews Band. The way I see it, you are Goldilocks and I am Snow White. We’d be friends, but you’d be unsatisfied with the temperature of porridge while I’d be off eating bad apples. We’re fairy tale opposites, but if you & me unite forces, I think we could take this world by storm. I’ll help you get rid of all the things that are too big and too small until everything is just right if you’ll come along with me and these little guys. Help me find Prince Charming and get out of this glass coffin, and I’ll totally hook you up with Sneezy. Either way, there’s a lot of strange bears in this world. Let’s us stick together, you & me, want to?
R.E.M. - Why Not Smile. You sat with me for a long time. You sat with me so long that we started off in coats, then stripped to sundresses and flip flops, and then put back on our coats and shivered with our wine. Now, I will sit with you through all the seasons the world can try to conjure, even if there are new ones that require moon suits or meteor shower umbrellas. I can build an ark, and an igloo, and I can start a fire using just my fingertips and some matches. You’ll smile again. I won’t make you. You just will, all by yourself. But, until then, and thereafter, I’m pulling up a chair.
Indigo Girls- Lay My Head Down. We’ve had enough red carpets, champagne, and flashbulbs. I’m ready to retire. All I need now is giant bed, some blankets, a television, someone to stoke the fire, and your head on a pillow next to mine. I’ll pour cheap wine if you grab the potato chips. Once we’re full, we’ll order pizza. Sometimes you can run off with a handsome man, but I know you’ll be back with me in the morning on a stack of mattresses, wanting a pair of socks and a swig of pickle juice. You and me, we’re the only solid things in this room.
Joshua Radin- Star Mile. I made the mistake of having two glasses of wine while writing numbers 1-5. And here I am, at number six. The good news is, you’re more afraid of reading this than I am of writing it. The good news is, if even after an entire year, you still don’t have a clue, I gave up long ago for you to get one. But, I can tell you where it is. If you turn to page 86, there is just one sentence and it is in this song. If you turn to page 57, there is another sentence and it is in the adventure I almost chose. But you won’t see me there. I am invisible. Invincible. Invisible.
Jack’s Mannequin- Swim. One summer at midnight, we took off our clothes and dove into a pool. Only you and me. The others were too cold, too old, too sober. We dove for pence and dragged a life saver deeper and deeper to the bottom of the pool, determined to balance it by standing on top, underwater. It was a mission, and we considered ourselves champions at making something that was meant to float, drown. We kept our heads above water the whole time. We didn’t drown. We ran all the way back home barefoot on the concrete, towels wrapped around us like wings, things meant to fly but, oh, gravity, kept us down.
Tom Waits- I Wish I Was in New Orleans. I beg your pardon, and cannot drink you under the table. But, you know, as long as we’re talking about what’s under the table, I’ll leave it like this: your socks probably have stripes. I probably have on high heels, maybe those black strappy ones. I bet I dropped my napkin, and it’s down there too. Someone probably sat here before us and dropped a coin or a crumb. I’m not looking at any of that, though.


