Oaxaca City - Lila Downs @ Plaza de la Danza - Monte Albán

I don't seem to translate well enough,
in pictures or in words.
But if I could speak in colors, then
maybe you might be able to understand me.

Yellow is the one I am most fluent in.
There must be someone else in this place
who speaks Yellow.

Florida?

A storm and giant waves were forming just after our band of kin
moved house to the exposed peninsula.
It was a good house, old and strong with thick bones.
The windows had even been replaced with new double paned glass.
Out of which I began to watch the sea rise.

Two of my parents were out running errands with my brother, using my car.
I was at home with my father, my other parent.
And as the water began to move up and over the land, we climbed to the third floor.
He was unconcerned with the danger and wanted to stay put.

I closed my window against the surge, but the water poured in through the sill.
At this time, I began to collect our essentials while waiting for the tide to draw out
again. I grabbed shoes and my passport, as my father and I made our
way downstairs. He asked me about saving my sketchbooks, and I said that I
could always make new ones.
Our lives were in danger... this house is just full of things!


The water backed away, and I hurriedly pushed my dad up the street.
For a "flat" peninsula, Miami's streets where much like San Francisco's.
People on the sidelines told us that we weren't going to make it, but I kept going. They were doomed, and they accepted it.

A car pulled up next to us. It was my other parents and brother cheerfully
waving their hands to get into my car. We got in as I could see that the waves were making their way
over and up everything behind us.

FEMA?
Seated in a government office of some sort they asked where we would like to be relocated.
I wanted to go back to California, but they said no. They offered an island off the coast with a small
native population, to which my family took. I asked the officials to send me to Brooklyn, and
they agreed.
At this time I noticed that my father was gone.
I asked my other parents where he was. Everyone shifted around uncomfortably
while looking at each other. He went back to the house, they said.
And the house was gone.

He sits up and sleeps.

There is less and less of you every year. And your mind?
Argumentative and irrational. Drinking coffee all day to
counteract the painkillers, chain-smoking and talking to the dog.
The dog's attention is more unconditional,
and it's a shame. Humans be damned.
We all try to hide when hurt. I guess it runs in the family.

I tried to pull the curtains on an experiment in my dream
last night. You were there and you told me not to turn the
fire place on. Also, we were Klingon. Can you believe it?

dream 030410

On my way to work, I made an erratic U-turn over a landscaped island on a crowded boulevard.
I ripped into the hospital parking lot, and entered the lobby pouring the contents of my lunch box onto a table
with a small porcelain sink built into it. While washing my broccoli in the sink, an Asian lady from behind the front desk
noticed me, and warmly exclaimed that I will now have special hospital clearance to come here, and go wherever I want
in the building. I was happy about this, though I felt this special clearance was not deserved.

Two portly people, a man and a woman, came out of a door attached to the lobby and told me to go with them.
I blacked out, and woke up in a huge hospital bed sandwiched between the two. The door was open, and the nurse at the desk was winking and smiling at me. I shot her a look of confusion. When I got out of the situation I looked back at the two people, disgusted at having been skin to skin with such ugly folk, though it was not my choice.

A few of my friends worked for some news station and told me to come along on a helicopter ride to report on a crime in Utah.
The chopper was all glass and you could see everything from up there. We got a report of a pick-up truck in a Redondo Beach neighborhood with some stolen goods in the back of it. We hovered close to the bed of the truck and saw the contents. There were huge golden coins and plates, old parchment, and ancient stone tablets. I felt immediately that the people at the hospital had something to do with this.

fall asleep on my couch.

there is no where else to go.

A 40 oz and some candy.

They took over your vehicle again, messing up your schedule...
And for what? They ended up at the bar. So you called me on the phone scathing
and growling like an werewolf. You were going to steal a bunch of candy from the store
because you didn't know what else to do.
I said, "Well, that's innocuous enough, just don't get arrested."

Driving down Rubidoux Blvd, I turned into a seedy strip mall at dusk. I had a meeting
with some emotionally fucked up people. There were going to be snacks and beer.
Considering the level of alcoholism in the room, I decided to drink some malt liquor in the parking lot,
rather than up the bad influence inside.

The ring leader of this group was outfitted in army fatigues, and was said to be
an army psychologist. Whatever he was saying was being drowned out by the crowd passing around
giant bags of Chex Mix, and candy. There was a six pack of beer on each table, and I asked the girl sitting next
to me, why there wasn't more beer. She said the "Born-Agains" don't drink to get drunk.
I took that as my que to leave. On my way to the restroom I saw someone being baptized in a dirty
sink. After a narrow escape from a dangerous man in the bathroom, I left the building,
warning the girls not to go into the restroom, on my way out.

under the influence

Undercover in the dark
I type out a romantic note
into space where there are no answers.
Later on down the week...
Comfortably sweating against a prickly pair,
I debate my heart's impulse to
break the dam, because hesitation
is not attractive, or passionate,
nor a place I want to be.
Why then?
Because,
"how many red flags does it take to start a fire?"

sometimes bad dreams

Your cousin called me after you had been missing from my life for a week.
A cryptic note during that time revealed your inability to handle even a low-maintenance
situation.
18 bands had your imaginary attention, while mine was on your wife singing to me in
the front yard of a home that I would never be a part of.
And a few strange moments later, I had blisters everywhere you had ever touched me.
My face was almost unrecognizable.