The C Word. And Others.

In this modern age, the age of liberated women, tv shows like Sex and the City, and pants, one question that seems to float around an awful lot is this: is courtship dead?

I was thinking the other night, and I realized that I've never really been asked out on a date. Perhaps this is my fault for always hanging around too many guys until my expectations are lowered, but then again, it seems strange that this phenomenon has been generated simply from my propensity to surround myself with men.

Don't get me wrong, I've been out to dinner with guys. But they're usually guys I am already involved with or "just friends." I don't recall there ever being a time when a guy asked me to dinner or dancing or something with the intention being getting to know me better because he liked me and wanted to see where we could go. Maybe my memory is failing me, I don't know. The point is, have men become too comfortable with the fact that women are liberated enough that they don't have to woo us anymore? Many women claim that our new-found freedom is a double-edged sword. We want power, respect, independence, and treatment as equals, but we also want to be adored, pampered, fought for, and romanced.

While I'm on the subject of courtship and romance, another issue has been on my mind. The issue of that little phrase, "I love you." This, to me, is a phrase that packs quite a punch. It is a phrase so significant to me that I have only said it to three men "in that way" in my entire life. However, I've been hearing more and more about people who say it quickly and often, who throw it out willy-nilly like "hello," or "cute dog." So my question is this: how many people out there are the type to say it quickly and to anyone they happen to be dating, and how many are the type to wait, to weigh things carefully, to make sure it's actually true before they say it? Also, how many people have said it back, just to protect their partner's feelings?

So that's it. For today, at any rate.

Just a Little Poetry.

I am in orbit around you,
I am suspended weightless over you
like the blue man
in the Chagall,hanging over you
in a delirious kiss.
Yesterday on the street
I swore I heard your name.
I turned and there was nobody there.
Just five birds rising off the ground--and when their wings hit the air,
I heard your name again.
Just for that second I was one of them,
pounding out your name...
A word of two syllables
locked inside my head.
You see, I am
and I will always be
the one who loved you
without limits.
This is my whole life right now.
Writing to you, talking to you like this.
Saying things I wanted to say,
but could not. And why?
When you are reaching for a star,
there is a long way to fall.
I love you. I have breathed you in.
Why should we sip from a tea cup,
when we can drink from the river?