Band Aid
Crossed threads of light and cream
fell apart in my hands like brown
sugar, like sweet dinner rolls,
like caked mud on my calf.
When loneliness wells out of my
lacerated skin and warmly
hugs the rough, wounded
edges before crawling
with gravity's steady pull,
I clutch for the crumbles
of inspiration. I need them
to grit in my eyes and pinch
at my thighs and dampen
my tongue. That powder,
that cream, it was me and you.
It was an itch and a scratch,
a partnership of muses,
making hours slide like freshly
hatched minnows in the dry,
dark night and words
and poetry dance with
flashing stars.
No dim glimmer
or thread of light.
No healing touch or
thought. No help.
Fall long, fall hard, fall away.
Monday, August 30, 2004
I have a two day pass to Bumbershoot! I am finally going to see the much anticipated performance of Pedro the Lion...and Saralita all at once. I know some of you are going as well but am not sure of the days. If you are planning on going Saturday 4, I want to meet up with you so call my cell right after 4:30 (when I get back from the BC) and perhaps we can arrange a meet up. (I feel like I'm arranging a drug or ransom drop) I haven't decided between Sun and Mon for the other days. Perhaps you can help me... I will be crashing Sarita for those couple of days so call or visit the Jefferson house if you get a chance.
Friday, August 20, 2004
Yesterday, while listening to the chatter on radio channel 4 for the Skykomish Ranger station, I overheard Northwest Youth Corps checking in from Lost Creek.
The voice was such that I felt compelled to imagine his facial features, his height, his hair color and finally his entire life story extended to his parents, ex girlfriend and why he doesn't want to work for Bernie, his brother in law, as a construction worker over the winter. Jude is in his mid to late twenties. He is tall and dark-haired with an oblong face and round glasses. His nose is freckled and his eyes are hazel. By all accounts, he should play the guitar but doesn't. He did try to write songs but could never find his tune, which is odd, because his parents were folk singers. This probably accounts for the fact that he is a roamer and can't settle into a life, a major, a job or a city. In fact, that is why his girl friend broke up with him. She wanted to settle down, have a house, have a garden, have some kids. Jude wanted to travel, couldn't settle down and was rubber necking. All in all he enjoys his job with the NYC and has a secret crush on one of the corps members. Unbeknownst to him, she has a crush on him as well.
I hope all fairs well for Jude. I think it will. He has a strong will and a sensitive heart. I hope that someday, I can meet the voice on the other end of the radio and give him a giant hug. We both need one.
The voice was such that I felt compelled to imagine his facial features, his height, his hair color and finally his entire life story extended to his parents, ex girlfriend and why he doesn't want to work for Bernie, his brother in law, as a construction worker over the winter. Jude is in his mid to late twenties. He is tall and dark-haired with an oblong face and round glasses. His nose is freckled and his eyes are hazel. By all accounts, he should play the guitar but doesn't. He did try to write songs but could never find his tune, which is odd, because his parents were folk singers. This probably accounts for the fact that he is a roamer and can't settle into a life, a major, a job or a city. In fact, that is why his girl friend broke up with him. She wanted to settle down, have a house, have a garden, have some kids. Jude wanted to travel, couldn't settle down and was rubber necking. All in all he enjoys his job with the NYC and has a secret crush on one of the corps members. Unbeknownst to him, she has a crush on him as well.
I hope all fairs well for Jude. I think it will. He has a strong will and a sensitive heart. I hope that someday, I can meet the voice on the other end of the radio and give him a giant hug. We both need one.
Monday, August 16, 2004
My friends, my foes, my enemies, my loves,
I am in a weird mood, but am full of stir fried curry and instant pudding with soy milk and very happy. My weekend in Seattle is coming to a close and was as lovely as ever thanks to Sarita, Tovin, Tovin's cookies, Heidi, Meg and Chris. I am looking forward to burrito night and GORP with candied ginger and miles and miles of lonely trail and sleepless nights and cold lakes and toilet holes, oh toilet holes!
I just purchased a poetry book and would like to share the first poem I read.
Even
Him that I love I wish to be
Free:
Free as the bare top twigs of tree,
Pushed up out of the fight
Of branches, struggling for the light,
Clear of the darkening pall,
Where shadows fall-
Of sky;
Free as a gull
Alone upon a single shaft of air,
Invisible there,
Where
No man can touch,
No shout can reach,
Meet
No stare;
Free as a spear
Of grass,
Lost in the green
Anonymity
Of a thousand seen
Piercing, row on row;
The crust of earth,
With mirth,
Through to the blue,
Sharing the sun
Although,
Circled, each one,
In his cool sphere
Of dew.
Him that I love, I wish to be
Free-
Even from me.
-Anne Morrow Lindebergh
sigh
I am in a weird mood, but am full of stir fried curry and instant pudding with soy milk and very happy. My weekend in Seattle is coming to a close and was as lovely as ever thanks to Sarita, Tovin, Tovin's cookies, Heidi, Meg and Chris. I am looking forward to burrito night and GORP with candied ginger and miles and miles of lonely trail and sleepless nights and cold lakes and toilet holes, oh toilet holes!
I just purchased a poetry book and would like to share the first poem I read.
Even
Him that I love I wish to be
Free:
Free as the bare top twigs of tree,
Pushed up out of the fight
Of branches, struggling for the light,
Clear of the darkening pall,
Where shadows fall-
Of sky;
Free as a gull
Alone upon a single shaft of air,
Invisible there,
Where
No man can touch,
No shout can reach,
Meet
No stare;
Free as a spear
Of grass,
Lost in the green
Anonymity
Of a thousand seen
Piercing, row on row;
The crust of earth,
With mirth,
Through to the blue,
Sharing the sun
Although,
Circled, each one,
In his cool sphere
Of dew.
Him that I love, I wish to be
Free-
Even from me.
-Anne Morrow Lindebergh
sigh
Off to Skykomish I go!
Monday, August 09, 2004
-You never know how good instant JELLO oreo pudding is until you and your three trail crew buddies mix it up with powdered milk at the end of a five day backpacking trip that covered over 50 miles, 7 lakes, 3 peaks, 4 passes, 20 lbs of garbage (including a cast-iron skillet), 1 toilette hole, and 10 inches of rain.
-My fingernails are blue because I paint them that way, my eyes are green because I was born that way, my hands are yellow because I like carrots and my mouth is blue because the huckleberries are ripe and fresh and abounding!
-When I can't sleep at night, I think of you. I can't sleep at night because I'm thinking of you. If I do sleep at night, I'm dreaming of you.
-My fingernails are blue because I paint them that way, my eyes are green because I was born that way, my hands are yellow because I like carrots and my mouth is blue because the huckleberries are ripe and fresh and abounding!
-When I can't sleep at night, I think of you. I can't sleep at night because I'm thinking of you. If I do sleep at night, I'm dreaming of you.
