Author Archives: Jonathan Berger

EFFIE’S CHOICE This just boggles my mind. Usually, you can tell pretty easily who the prettier friend is, the hotter one, the most popular. You can figure out, with the first glance, the dynamics of the friendship and the tension … Continue reading →

THE FORTY FOUR It creeps, this insidious thing, traveling slowly, stealthily, sometimes circuitously down a long and windy road, heading ever closer to its destination which is you. It may seem like forever, the time it takes to arrive, granting … Continue reading →

SIXPENCE She made me sing a new tune and, after experiencing her, I no longer wished to be single but rather, sought extended play. I sought to reverb her so she’d repeat the things I had tried to say so … Continue reading →

ALI’S INSISTENCE It was funny when Ali would sing, “Do you wanna get fucky?” when he meant to say “funky.” His English wasn’t great, but his mastery of the rock idiom was pretty impressive. So we laughed along as he … Continue reading →

The sketches she made on the quad were never of me because I was always behind her, watching what she did as she watched all of them. Her sense of composition was flawed but her sense of compassion was sound … Continue reading →

IF WORD She said “Fuck” just the right way but didn’t say it to me. She only said it NEAR me which really isn’t the same thing at all. She said “Fuck” so gloriously, though, that I had to try … Continue reading →

THE STEPS I didn’t tremble as I walked up to her and I didn’t cough before I made my intro and I didn’t mumble when I told her my name and I didn’t blurt it out, either. I didn’t say … Continue reading →

MAYBE IT WAS OORLA There was a girl Allison or Agnes or… maybe it was Oorla. I dunno. I told her I loved her and I’d love her forever and, for that moment – maybe a night, maybe a week, … Continue reading →

TOO TRUE Don’t. Really, just… Don’t. The kinds of questions you ask are not the kind you really want answers to. The answers may surprise you and generate reactions far too true. The poems you think are about you are … Continue reading →

WANDERING HEART I think there has been between us one of those film-famed failures to communicate. When you told me you were looking for a change in your love-life and I encouraged you to take a chance and experience new … Continue reading →