fallapartcometogetherfallapartcometogetherfalla
"To know the spirit of a place is to realize that you are a part of a part and that the whole is made of parts, each of which is whole. You start with the part you are whole in." ~ Gary Snyder
Saturday, May 30, 2015
synthesis
waking up requires getting my head out of my ass
the air is clear clear clear
carving a place where I can make my own quiet and yawp to the world, I have a right to exist
this can be hard but Anne Lamott tells you to put all the people and voices and reasons that are screaming at you, telling you that you owe them something, telling them that your being isn't enough, put all those voices in a sealed glass jar and watch them frantically throw themselves at the glass with all their spittle and jerks and thrusts and then attach a volume button to that jar and turn the volume way way down and watch their angry faces and limbs without sound, then maybe smile at them. then
turn away from all that,
repeat to yourself,
I have a right to exist
Who are my gatekeepers? Who leads me to womanhood?
I'm thinking about my mouth and what we conjure for one another
I'm thinking about how careful conjurations are a grace
un-doing the laces of American social voodoos
seeking a way in which we don't put pins in one another
I'm thinking about spending months in the mountains of Costa Rica not being able to speak English and when I came home and my mom picked me up from the airport English words got caught in my mouth and I tried to tell her about the trip, I tried to say "certification" and it came out "cer-ti-fi-ca-tion" because I wanted it to be certificación and my mouth couldn't do it and I was
struck dumb
and I was
abstracted
because Who forgot to put the right stress on the word, "certification?"
I was
struck dumb
by the fourteen year old costa rican girl who was made pregnant by the fifty five year old man
now she lives with him in a tin shack in a parking lot
too scared to talk to anybody or go outside
stuck in the darkness and dirt and heat with her newborn
what chance does she stand
in a culture that tells her the role she must play, which desires and dreams are hers to pursue and which are not
what chance does he stand
in a culture that tells him the role he must play, which desires and dreams are his to pursue and which are not
and what chance do I stand
in a culture that
cer-ti-fi-ca-tion
I stand a better chance after being
struck dumb
abstracted from
myself
coming of age
face
falls
wake UP to you
how many experiences can I process to
how many experiences can I process to
Letting go is good. But letting go without knowing that you resound is irresponsible.
the earth is not a cold dead place the earth is not a cold dead place the earth is not a cold dead place the earth is not a cold dead place the ear
I don't think it takes anything other than being here to have some authority
it doesn't take anything other than being here to say
I have a right to exist
I have a right to exist
I have a right to exist
people get swept up by watching somebody else get
swept into taste particles and pieces of each other
make meaning and make good meaning
climactic culture makes me hasty
sometimes makes me scream at a poem, say, I don't have time for you, and no one else has time for you either
I want to say what I want for how we are to be and it be enough
but
keep eating with our baby teeth and we won't have minds
trying to own conduits is like trying to swallow god
the more I write the more I find it harder to end on an answer
what is happening?
my meaning making structures keep not working for me,
because I am comforted by the bright and beautiful sky outside right now and that the flowers are out but I was angry that it was bright and beautiful and that the flowers were out when Karen died --
and in that moment my meaning making structures told me the world was full of hellish indifference
living in a world that I declared hellishly indifferent was un-sustainable
so I had to let go of that
seeing life as a cheesy nature poem
and that maybe flowers aren't flowers because I had a good day today
and later
that little girls in tin shacks with littler girls -- I won't turn away form the world for having this
and I won't hate the man living with her but I will work to make him be struck dumb
and abstracted
from the things
he holds fixed
I won't make a human being only one thing
I will search for being struck dumb myself as many times as I can be
she shed she shed
and all into knots before she shed again
flowers growing in fast forward and decaying in fast forward
one form is another and another and another
and I think
not a gimmick
and I want to create a space where
and I'm saying I want because it's just the meaning making structure that I'm using right now
I won't turn away from the world for having this I think is an act of violent self-assertion but sometimes when I touch my toes to the bottom of my meanings all I can feel is a prayerful nausea
open moments frame a kick whole frame popped whole a peel a molten molting falling out into now
sow me one and hold us
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Whyta keepa
man na for himselfa
down in da holey waterwith da
name in da whole of
da with you
edge skip
ing along pulled
tight
against da man's face
we skate and trace
over
the outline of da man's face
a weirdy weird weird man i found
cheek
you found
bottom
oh brother where art thou nose
to breathe
i think you are an accordion
with stape stape staples
song a staple song a stable song
dazzle you glitter beard
mashed potato waves
stop saying the word nymph
blanketed apostrophes
thoughts in a song
thoughts in an apple
thoughts of the big apple ro ro ro rhododendron rugs saffron a big toe sat on a big to
you belong with me whaaaaaaaaaat
o toward to his each own the meat of a nut
the meat of a nut
im glad you call it the meat of a nut
the way
ur fingers
press press into the bones in my back, searching to be there
an ancient trade
and
god knows im meant for a dirty basket or two
swing low sweet baloney we're a match made in heaven oscar
a funky funny in an elbow crook belonged to a little age on your teeth
a little age on my face
a little age does nicely a dabll doya da man
wit da glue
whoda say so whoda tot
man na for himselfa
down in da holey waterwith da
name in da whole of
da with you
edge skip
ing along pulled
tight
against da man's face
we skate and trace
over
the outline of da man's face
a weirdy weird weird man i found
cheek
you found
bottom
oh brother where art thou nose
to breathe
i think you are an accordion
with stape stape staples
song a staple song a stable song
dazzle you glitter beard
mashed potato waves
stop saying the word nymph
blanketed apostrophes
thoughts in a song
thoughts in an apple
thoughts of the big apple ro ro ro rhododendron rugs saffron a big toe sat on a big to
you belong with me whaaaaaaaaaat
o toward to his each own the meat of a nut
the meat of a nut
im glad you call it the meat of a nut
the way
ur fingers
press press into the bones in my back, searching to be there
an ancient trade
and
god knows im meant for a dirty basket or two
swing low sweet baloney we're a match made in heaven oscar
a funky funny in an elbow crook belonged to a little age on your teeth
a little age on my face
a little age does nicely a dabll doya da man
wit da glue
whoda say so whoda tot
Monday, November 17, 2014
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Monday, November 10, 2014
practicing gratitude ~ day 11
Today I'm grateful for:
Binx fell asleep on my chest
Ben Howard
mushrooms and rice and chicken noodle soup
my mom
Savannah telling me what we always suspected, Jackson from Hannah Montanna is played by a 35 year old actor
15 min yoga
nakedness
sharing my dad's computer
the way washing your face at night feels really nice
Nathaniel Branden and "The Six Pillars of Self Esteem"
mirrors of all kinds
nice emails from professors
Thanksgiving coming soon
Binx fell asleep on my chest
Ben Howard
mushrooms and rice and chicken noodle soup
my mom
Savannah telling me what we always suspected, Jackson from Hannah Montanna is played by a 35 year old actor
15 min yoga
nakedness
sharing my dad's computer
the way washing your face at night feels really nice
Nathaniel Branden and "The Six Pillars of Self Esteem"
mirrors of all kinds
nice emails from professors
Thanksgiving coming soon
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
practicing gratitude ~ day 10
I'm grateful for shrimp with cajun seasoning I'm grateful for my brother having a lucky lucky lucky break I'm grateful for my dad being here I'm grateful for learning how to fix a sink I'm grateful for swing dance and youtube
practicing gratitude ~ day 9
I'm grateful for laugh laugh laughing with Calvin I'm grateful that he said we're all in "cool relationship phases" I'm grateful for goofing off and laughing after I fart
I'm grateful for the opposite of loneliness and for cereal with berry filling
I'm grateful for being a grown up
I'm grateful for creating something that means something
I'm grateful for the opposite of loneliness and for cereal with berry filling
I'm grateful for being a grown up
I'm grateful for creating something that means something
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