RANDOM THOUGHTS

1. I've started reading eleven (11) books in the last month. Haven't finished any yet. What's the deal? There is always a more interesting book out there and I have to have it. I think that's like thinking that everyone else is having fun while I'm left out. Left out of what? And I think that comes from growing up as an only child and needing friends all the time, company, needing to be the center of attention.

2. Being an only child sucks. There, I said it.

3. This morning I heard on the radio that anyone can baptize a child into the Catholic religion. All you need is to spring some water from the faucet and recite a few words. Can I charge for that?

4. That's like being an officiant at weddings and funerals just by getting a certificate online. I should try that. After all, I've tried so many other "unusual" things.

5. When I ride by a neighborhood where I used to work at or frequent and see it renewed, it bugs me. What's wrong with me? Am I anti-progress?

6. What does it mean when your teeth fall out in a dream?

NaPoWriMo Day 18

DREAM

In the desert we are fleeing

and fighting. My four front teeth’s caps

fall out. I try to stick them back on

but to find them I have to search first

because  my palm holds all these other things:

pine cones and dates and assorted insects

lie among my teeth's caps. Then, on a bed,

in the middle of the desert my colleagues

gather around. We walk and walk

to reach a building where our offices are. 

Finally I manage to put my caps on but

I’m afraid they’ll fall out again. What does

it mean? when your teeth fall out in your dream?

NaPoWriMo Day 17

How to make a fire  

Light a match. Watch the blue wedge

flutter in the strong wind, weakening,

weakening. Hurry up. That’s your last

one. Throw it on top of the woodpile

swiftly, before it goes out.

Sit and wait now. And hope the red flame

grows big enough to warm you up in

this dank crook of the world, chilled

to the bone as you are. Breathe

deeply and watch: the darkness might

bring uninvited guests. Sooner or later,

the sun will rise, the wind will die down.

It will be your time to stand up then, to go out

into the world and start other fires, other fights.

NaPoWriMo Day 16

BIRDS IN “EL PARAISO” (San Miguel de Allende, Mexico)

A vermilion flycatcher flutters around the shrubs,

bright red breast, black head,

could not be more beautiful jumping from branch

to branch, hiding in the tall trees in

the distance, coming closer to my window. 

A red slash against the blue sky, impossible not to admire. 

Two grackles walk back and forth across the street,

their long black tails sweeping the cobblestones,

determined and purposeful.  Sometimes

one of them perches himself on the dome

above the house and calls out

to who knows who - a mate? a friend? us?

NaPoWriMo Day 12

Flat earth, bare trees, where I live 
we welcome warmth unabashedly. 
We wear our legs bare too soon, as soon
as the merest hint of weather change
announces itself. Sun. We wait all plants
to bloom and blossom, to explode
in yellow, red, pink, blue,
orange, purple, many more. We sit
at sidewalk cafes and on park benches,
we open our eyes and our mouths
to breathe in and swallow what has
been denied us for so long. Trees no longer
bare, earth still flat, we begin to smile
slowly, slowly, the new season has arrived.

NaPoWriMo Day 11

a junco skips on the deck
picks a seed
picks another
then skips some more
I watch his white belly caress
the wood, his grey back shine
under the welcome sun
this morning that promises
the warmth
we've been waiting for it

now a house finch in a red coat

and a multitude of sparrows and

a chickadee

or two

they all visit our birdfeeder

all day long

sometimes a male cardinal

graces us with his presence and

brings along his wife

silence and peace reign

this morning

only birds disturb but

we're not complaining

we're happy

we feed them and watch them

and worry about their well-being

NaPoWriMo Day 7/8/9

I missed a few days thanks to life's unpredictable predictabilities.

Here is today's contribution.

You are the polio survivor too for sure

with your limping leg, your loose foot

that doesn’t obey, doesn’t act properly,

doesn’t walk the way it should:  lifting the heel first,

then the toes. No, you just lift the entire foot,

the leg up from the knee, then

you stumble, you slip, you fall. Sometimes

you roll down rocks, knock your head twice

and come to rest for the third time on the clearing.

Your husband watching in terror. Dumbfounded.

What should I do he thinks.

You say I’m ok, what happened. 

You don’t lose consciousness or pass out or forget

your name and address, just a myriad of bruises,

cuts, some blood, pain. Looking like an abused wife

you walk into the hotel where people stare. I’m ok you say.

Embarrassing you think. Stupid you berate yourself.

 But

your foot, your leg, they just got sick one day,

a long time ago. Not your fault they say. Yet you don’t

believe that. Shit! you say, why do I have to walk

like that? Trip? Stumble? Fall and keep falling.