the edge, the hush

50collective

2011-05-24T12:38:00.000-07:00

Saturday I had the chance to attend a workshop and performance by 50collective, an amazing collaboration by 50 international dance artists. They've formed a grassroots collective that brings them together for short periods of time to pass on their dance knowledge in classes, pass on their performance experience, and pass through. All 50 originally met for a 2.5 month long workshop in Costa

Mer Sedna

2011-05-05T18:06:00.000-07:00

Mer Sedna is the performance project I've been doing for about a year and a half with Katrina Ellison. Mer Sedna is a fusion of Butoh (Japanese modern dance-theatre) and American Tribal-Style Bellydance (ATS), and is principally Katrina's brainchild, but she lets me come along and play. I'm trained in modern Egyptian Bellydance and American modern dance, so the techniques are cousins anyway.

2881 Miles

2011-04-29T11:05:00.000-07:00

I've been doing an ongoing dance+writing game with friends all over the world for about a year now. It started with a dance that my mentor Aileen wrote for me, which I made a dance film of. Then my friend Liz wrote about that film, and my friend Charlotte made a video of that dance, and so on, and so on. It's a riff on the game "Exquisite Corpse" invented by the Surrealists, where you continue a

I've never used my blog for this kind of thing, but you know what, this has been driving me crazy.

2011-04-14T13:30:00.000-07:00

The Stranger, my favorite weekly rag ever, and according to them 'The Only Newspaper in Seattle', does not have a dance section. Or a dance critic. They bother to send their theater critic or their visual arts critic - both of whom don't know a lick about dance - to one dance concert every 3 months or so. And then they stick it in a tiny spot in the theater or visual art section, because - did I

Spam Poetry

2011-04-06T12:23:00.000-07:00

I started collecting spam emails in college. There's this incredible incidental poetry that happens when a spam generator tries to emulate your other emails enough to sneak into your inbox. Gmail's spam filter is pretty good, but sometimes one program outsmarts the other, and a weird, poetic email manages to squeak through. The surprising thing is how beautiful some of them can be - a line

Making Dances

2011-04-05T19:35:00.000-07:00

I just started rehearsals for a new piece last night, called "Little Lives". I have five gorgeous dancers who are authentic and fierce and ready. There's nothing sweeter than the first moments of making work, the infinite possibility of directions it can take, the good, clean floor and the sweet, warm dancers that sweep across it, adjust their posture, sweep across it again. I would make you a

dust on the footlights

2011-03-30T12:23:00.000-07:00

In Aileen's first dream, she was dancing. She was a tiny girl, but she wrote the dream down. She was dancing in a theater, and she could smell it.

machu picchu

2011-03-24T14:42:00.001-07:00

broken down, green and brown we walk winding trails between fallen walls with our hot fingertips lingering, til these yellow flowers wilt at a [touch] we are surrounded by waves of white clouds that hide then reveal a broken temple, hide then reveal the giant steps of the mountains that surround us, hide then reveal the long haired llama grazing the grass as always grew and will regrow we are

in transit

2011-01-01T07:07:00.000-08:00

Well-fed, light-skinned people, wrapped in the sweaters of our success bearing our shapely black suitcases red Eddie Bauer backpacks. We hold our belongings carelessly, we have all made it through security, no shifty eyes, itching fingers here; everyone is sleepy in the indoor heat, the rock of the silently rushing train taking us to N gates; plus! it is 10pm, we are all in soft clothes

old skool freestyle [from the vaults]

2010-12-28T19:29:00.001-08:00

Yes there are fences that still hurt like they used to. Why do you think I'm blurting these words for my journey? For the sake of St. Nicholas I'm waxing ridiculous. I didn't quite sin for this twinge of loneliness that pops with its finger this pink bubble I'm chewing and the juices drip out of my black and white film leaving only a shadow of color and light like the scent and the clatter of

Internal Rhythm

2010-12-27T13:46:00.000-08:00

5. Not that there's doom Or hope But a relentless working of things and a rhythm that has never yet been disproven He is drunk at a bar as if he has always been drunk at a bar It is dimly lit as if it has always been dimly lit His stomach was once soft now tight someday soft again He can't ignore this. She is glorious. More every year Someday less so. Outside, it's cold and dark. He dreams of

Internal Rhythm

2010-12-26T13:38:00.001-08:00

4. The morning is sunny, The evening punctuated with a quiet pink sunset She sits on a soft leather couch surrounded by red golden embroidery She is sipping green tea between bites of spicy noodles. She is imagining this is a memory- impossibly plush, clean, luxurious When she is looking back someday, when the world has gone mostly in flames and she is huddling in ashes, maybe or under the

Internal Rhythm

2010-12-12T16:03:00.000-08:00

3. The years keep passing This is the only thing he can say with certainty since every time he looks back his stories seem to retell themselves Is he doing the right thing? Has he been a good enough man? Would it be better, if, say, he had lost his virginity to a different woman? Better not to think about it These questions with no answers But at precisely 3:28AM he is staring at an infinitely

Internal Rhythm

2010-12-07T20:43:00.000-08:00

2. She wakes up at precisely 7:59 AM having set her alarm for 8 AM There must be a rhythm within her that is willing to align itself to the human clock some silent ticking off of time along with the birds and the rising sun that builds upon itself and counts its beats that same inner rhythm heavy with a passing rise and fall heavy with is own quiet intelligence must also know in addition to

Internal Rhythm

2010-11-30T12:35:00.000-08:00

1. His knuckles have become thicker His voice caresses more adeptly He has finally learned to kiss and cook asparagus and to contain his rage in public A universe still swirls inside him infinite with possibility He puts it in ordered columns by day but at night he dreams of the ocean's chaos He becomes dark, cool, wild responding to an unpredictable tug from every direction In his dreams he

Delight Songs 1&2

2010-07-09T15:46:00.000-07:00

1 I have been as the sage, baking in the noon desert sun I have been crisp like an apple falling into juice I have been the light of the full moon waking you up I have been the kiss on the center of your palm Now I am in the wind through the branches Now I am the rain on the roof Now I am bird song in the morning I have been flying in my dreams Now I am wheeling on the ground I am stomping

2010-01-16T17:41:00.000-08:00

Stupid Alphabet (Poem #13, originally published at Poem a Day 2010)When literacy leapt into beingits alphabet all in a neat rowONE WORDAFTERANOTHERMARCHINGOnflathorizontale v e r y l e t t e r meaninglessunto itselfa switch flippedin the human braincultivatinglinear thought (one word marching after another)dialectic reasoningit is THIS and it is NOT THATthe logicalmasculine brainConsider

2010-01-09T23:13:00.000-08:00

January keeps coming like a freight train (Poem #8 at Poem a Day 2010)Brownies for breakfast,my boots are still wet,my bike was stolen,I'm late for dance class."Use your back" my flamenco teacher says"Reach through water""Use your positions""You don't know how to use your strength."I reach to the side"Your arm is bent"I reach to the side"Your arm is bent"I reach to the side"Straighten your arm."

2010-01-08T12:40:00.001-08:00

Time (originally posted at Poem a Day 2010)The general momentum of things won't stop scratching this heat-warped record of songs we used to sing to one another under the sycamore tree that reached up to the sky out of the snow or the long grasses.The time that passed, even in the shine of the January snowfall, even in the March melt, has never come to a pitched heat, never even a dramatic swell,

2010-01-02T16:16:00.000-08:00

POEM #1 at Poem a Day 2010ResolutionsHe'll floss moreI'll eat less sugarHe'll write moreI'll judge lessHe'll eat more vegetablesI'll be less needyand somewhere in the middleof his increaseand my decreasewe'll balance.

2009-12-31T11:39:00.001-08:00

Hey friends! I'll be contributing to the lovely Poem-a-Day Blog This January. Check it out.Happy New Year! I love you all.

2009-11-29T20:31:00.000-08:00

WOO HOO! WOO HOO! 50,000 words! 29 days! WOOOOO! WOOOOOO! WOOOOOO!

2009-11-12T13:36:00.000-08:00

2009-10-28T13:35:00.000-07:00

PING! I'm writing a novel in November!November is National Novel Writing Month. A few hundred thousand people all around the globe, me among them, are going to start writing on November 1 and crank it out until we have 50,000 or more words (standard novel length) by November 30.I'll be posting on here, for sure, so keep a look out.Nanowrimo! Here I come! Writing snack stash at the ready, pots of

2009-10-09T09:30:00.000-07:00

Excerpts from How We Are Bound at Arts in Nature,Choreography by Victoria Jacobs

2009-06-22T21:50:00.000-07:00

Los Alamos, NMImportant NoticeThese items of laundry are to be eliminated: lace scarves fancy table clothes curtains valancesAlso, we shall discontinue touch up of flatwork turning up of french cuffs binding of blankets loosening of pieces in damp washand other unessential services and trade practicesin the interest of maximum utilization of manpowerand the adoption of further

2009-06-18T13:57:00.000-07:00

Small red heartyou are bleached white and wept blueFloating among these echoing wallson the haunting melodies of forgotten songson eagle's cries and frog's moans.You are lost on the softly sighing windAnd you evaporate into a throbbing echo.You rise in this winding white cathedralto expand like a luminous cloud.You can never, ever touch the brilliant blue ceiling.You can never taste the whiteness

2009-06-18T13:49:00.000-07:00

Now there's no chatter.Now there's the hush of falling waterand the whisper of the wind through the treesorange rocks stacked up in a frozen displayat this brief instantthis single snapshotout of Earth's lengthy book.I'm sorry for my careless momentsbut I've tried to learn care from them.It's easier when I'm quiet,drowsing to the sound of falling water.I become aware of the stacked-up curves of

2009-06-16T14:15:00.000-07:00

Ghost Ranch, NMNew Mexico! You remember me? Like an old hat? You never forgot the shape of my head. I wore you in enough weather. We endured rain and blazing sun together, burnt at bonfires, gleamed in the fullness of several moons. You remember me? I loved here, laughed with friends here, none alone as dear to me as you. I held them, and holding them I held you; I sweated on them, and sweating I

2009-06-15T20:20:00.000-07:00

Ghost Ranch, NMHome is where hearts hang, where sunshine afternoons seem to go on forever on a calm blue-gray porch that slips and slides the hours, the direction of light slowly changes, the heat rises in my cheeks, going back inside for a drink, back out for a sigh, back in for a book, back out for a song, and the endless afternoon stretches on and on in my gentle mortal sense of what Heaven

2009-04-29T14:59:00.000-07:00

Somewhere in between the slight sweet sadness of coming and going, I wrote this:It has something to do with leaving and something to do with coming back. IDA Y VUELTA - GO and RETURNWhat is the sense of opportunity missed, a self inserted into a person-shaped hole that does not fit anymore - or worse? - that does fit? Because all those potential lives start to stack up, including the ones you

2009-02-09T21:28:00.000-08:00

You're a run-out battery race, my friend, and I have nothing to say to you of lilypads, and I have nothing to say to you of sunsets.I tied up a few old projects today. Should I be satisfied? There is still a collage that has been marinating for a year. But framing those pictures - they needed a year and a half to arrive in the present moment, raring to go.Now, at 24 - at 24 at 24 24 years old

2009-02-06T19:40:00.000-08:00

He is tapping he is loving we are slowly building somethingWhat word picture would you like to see today?Is it a dragonfly drifting through a sunset seas, or mighty mysteries untapped with a tongue?Is it my hot breath in this cool air, cool inhale, warm exhale, closed room, warm body. Closed room, warm body, warming tea, thrilling lover.A snail with lovely eyelashes, an underwater musical where

2009-02-06T19:36:00.001-08:00

TO DO LIST, Victoria;next summer-take Sierra on a tour of the Southwest-make friends with a statue-man in New Orleans-flamenco dance on the shore of a lake-paint a bad feeling on a rock and throw it at the window of a condemned house-bury a toenail, to get your foot in the door of Earth's mysteries(from Sierra, last summer. Thanks, you 14-year old Buddha).

2009-01-27T17:34:00.000-08:00

Do you know that I know and can you see that this moment is happening?I did not always know that this moment was always happening.I always knew that this moment is always and always slips away.When I was 12, I lay in the dark of the living room during a sleepoverstaring at the blinking green lights on the beta tape player1:02 1:02 1:02 1:03and I told Elizabeth Snyderthat deep down I had the sense

2009-01-14T22:22:00.000-08:00

I are i, here we go once more into the breach my bumbershooting baby, typing without stopping on a sunday night but the psychics say it's wednesday, but no body really knows anything about seattle and her dance projects. Will you edit this? Will you fall in love? Shall we sneak out the window? A puddle always forms there where you stand and tap on my window, where I wait too long for you to

2009-01-05T21:51:00.000-08:00

Hot ChocolateOn the 2nd night, we made hot chocolate.We took turns using a mortar and pestle to pound the cacao beans that you brought back from Guatemalaand we whipped the sweet heavy cream into thick airy fluff.In a round silver pot, we boiled the sweet milk with the bitter dark brown nibsand stirred in spoonfuls of chile powder."You've never tried spicy hot chocolate before?"It's how the Aztec

2008-10-06T19:33:00.000-07:00

I got out while the getting was good, and the blue moods of Spain drift through the picture windows today. I sit at the white grand piano, strolling through Chopin with torn lace gloves on. There's a vase of wilting yellow tulips on the piano's head. The piano is talking to me, creeping under my skirt to speak directly to my mute mouth. The piano's black keys are pushing at my buttons. Its pedals

2008-06-20T07:53:00.000-07:00

La Plaza Blanca, Abiquiu, New MexicoEndless white! Don't tease me like this! I know you remember my voice! You know I'm sagging and lazy; and you stand tall and hard, curving white layers that I want to taste on my tongue. Every time I come back here you see me getting older and it's only a blink of an eye for you. I'm dying and you never will. You tell me you're crumbling.WP:I'm crumbling.V: and

2008-06-17T15:13:00.000-07:00

Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, New MexicoHome is where hats go, where valuable possessions and hearts wait. Home is a place you choose and it creates you back, changes your eyes so that streets become ordinary and sunsets can be missed for another day. Home is a little breakfast and an afternoon on the lake. Nothing special: eat, sleep, cry.I believe we are here. I believe we see from our eyes. I believe

2008-06-06T13:04:00.000-07:00

Congratulations!For Michelle and Tyler Bogardus,May 29, 2008Pine Island, Outer Banks, North CarolinaWedding ReadingMy friends, today you stand before us to say 'YES.' 'YES, I choose you.' It is a beautiful choice to make. YES may be the loveliest word we know.We, your chosen friends and family, have traveled from all over to stand beside you and witness your choice. We are here to whisper 'YES'

2008-04-07T09:15:00.000-07:00

Mysterious bubble top.You unravel my finest hour, you are golden and unspoiled, you are a funny little bear.Bouncing bird, you ask me questions and you don't get bread and honey for breakfast. "Do what you want," "An effective method," says the father.While Jolie sings about birds and blues, I've got a promise to finish this story for everyone's sake. We're getting olderWe're getting olderWe're

2008-03-24T11:39:00.000-07:00

Reasons for FastingOne of the more amazing moments in my technological life was my discovery of the "summarize" button on iWord or whatever they call it. So, my trial version expired long ago, but nonetheless, I got the priceless summaries of my novel first, in 100, 200, 1000 words.SummarySunOtherwise he'll eat Za's.” I will dream. I will dream. I will dream. I will eat less. I will eat less. I

2008-03-19T15:48:00.000-07:00

A tidbit and a tadpoleI'm working on a really big project. Here's a smidge. Thanks for coming here sometimes and looking at my scribbles. It means a lot to me.September 25, 2006 Finca Son Capella Porreres, Mallorca, Beleares, Mediterranean, Spain I don't miss you. Get thee behind me, past.was all I could manage this morning. I didn't want to write any more blues songs about ****, nor another song

2008-03-16T00:52:00.000-07:00

"Flamenco Heat in Seattle: Sara de Luis, Maestra de Flamenco" in the March Seattle Woman by Victoria Jacobs

2008-02-21T23:50:00.000-08:00

Barrio Flamenco!

2008-02-21T23:48:00.000-08:00

Take care, little bear.

2008-02-18T23:21:00.000-08:00

Stories by Adrien and MeThe Crocodile and the Quarks"Inconsequential talkings!" hollered the gray squirrel from his piney perch above our heads. We ducked as he tossed an acorn down at us. "What gives, little friend?" I've just about had it with your flop-flooping and sumtiddy mumblings!" he chittered at us. "It's time you go talking about the real stuff."We looked at each other with the knowing

2008-02-07T15:10:00.001-08:00

I spent most of the last year and a half on the lam, carrying a backpack full of pretty clothes (that fell apart) and pretty stones (that didn't), and I sailed on a worldclass raceboat and I rode a donkey through an orange grove at sunset and I danced flamenco on Christmas Eve in Madrid and I rolled with the windy misty whims and wild wings, but I missed dancing.I did dance on top of boulders and

2008-02-04T14:11:00.000-08:00

.I would rather sit here in silenceand answer the call of this beating heartthan pick up my pulsing feetI have songs I will not singwords that strike dumb red wallsI have no strength to swallowand my chest is heavyand my chest is lightI am hereand the world is always ending.these notes are goosebumpsthese fingers are a sighyou want so muchradiance unravels youDon't try so hardI kiss the inside of

2008-01-27T23:44:00.000-08:00

I've been remiss! Did you miss me?Shaking and stomping all the while, there is something you are searching for with the tip of your head. Maybe this is it - smoothing the sand with your sweet palm. I don't mean to be confusing. I'm just trying to do the thing.I love these long sunny January days. Every day the sun creeps a little deeper into the living room as it makes its long journey back from

2007-11-20T23:45:00.000-08:00

Thank you.

2007-11-12T17:22:00.000-08:00

LOTUS MUDRA(Symbol of Purity)Place both hands in front of your chest so that only the edges of your hands and pads of your fingers touch each other: This is the bud of the lotus flower. Now open your hands, but maintain the contact between the tips of your little fingers and the outer edges of your thumbs. Spread the other fingers open as wide as possible. After four deep breaths, close both

2007-11-12T16:25:00.000-08:00

Oolong PoemI.oh bright moon hearthung with oolong cloudsyou can not lose this feelingbody inside, sunshine outyou lean against the corner of the winddrilling your heels downyou round your back against the windbut we don't believe in blamethings just happenlife happens, he shrugsand you take water welleven improving on a 4th and 5th steepingthis winter ting tang teais happy to see the sunI can

2007-11-09T00:59:00.000-08:00

The fig tree that I grew up climbing won Virginia State Champion (i.e. biggest) fig tree! We planted it when we moved in in 1987, and it was the same size as me, and now just look at it.I used to spend hours in those branches, cutting Granny Smith apples and eating them off the sharp edge of the knife.I can't tell you how happy this makes me.And those are my very happy folks. Did I mention

2007-11-07T16:57:00.001-08:00

Fear-No-More Zoo

2007-11-02T00:23:00.001-07:00

Cold bright autumn streetCrows peck at pecansIt's silly,to think we can own even one yellow leaf.* + =I leap laughing through loose brown leavesYou roll golden down a parallel pathYou spin autumn colors onto paperI lean away and hum.We breathe our floating ribs,count to 27,and swirl apart.123and again+ * -We probe the depths of darknessdiscovering light in every inch

2007-10-20T17:55:00.000-07:00

Here in Seattle, mornings find me in the tree pose (vrikasana) saying to myself "I am calm, I am poised" and then I carry that, fireplace in my belly style, out into the gray mornings. Many dancing, writing, teaching, learning. Many colors. God bless us. I don't know what we did to be so lucky, to be born in the light, but now we're going deeper into the light, and my god (yes my goddess?) it's

2007-10-12T12:55:00.000-07:00

Yogas chitta vritti nirodha.

2007-10-12T12:26:00.000-07:00

I am so happy.Craving and anticipation seem to eat up a lot of good being time- It's human BEING, not human DOING!!and I have to keep a ticker in my head saying "craving"...... "anticipating"..... "anticipating"... to bring me back to the present moment. The nice thing about being in the present moment is that you don't have to try. You don't have to do, or visualize, or actualize, or direct, or

2007-09-29T19:34:00.001-07:00

Mirror images do amazing things. Look at life in its own mirror. Hold it up and see where you are. Sometimes things aren't what they seem. Usually they are exactly what they seem.This rhyme and this reason make a lot of sense to me. Don't you look around and see that everything has arrived just on time? It shows up on the street corner, and just as you are ready, you learn a new lesson - or

2007-09-07T09:54:00.000-07:00

Busking Bumbershoot.ArtCulture.ComMy first paying writing gig! Check out my article on busking for the first time at Bumbershoot!

2007-09-04T13:06:00.000-07:00

Seattle, WAtuesday morningSilence fills pores. Candles heat small rooms. A bed on the floor is still naked for a blanket.Violins don't know everything. Bobsleds have no place here. The space needle disappears into space. Some nights we know everything.Sometimes we ruin things when we fall in love with them. A portable confessional unit is bursting with secrets.No, not when we fall in love. We

2007-09-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

o by the byhas anybody seenlittle you-iwho stood on a greenhill and threwhis wish at bluewith a swoop and a dartout flew his wish(it dived like a fishbut it climbed like a dream)throbbing like a heartsinging like a flameblue took it myfar beyond farand high beyond highbluer took it yourbut bluest took it ouraway beyond wherewhat a wonderful thingis the end of a string(murmurs little you-ias the

2007-09-03T23:07:00.000-07:00

2007-08-25T10:19:00.000-07:00

Seattle, WAterrifiedI've got an apartment. I move into it on September 1. I took the smallest room, because a quiet and simple voice inside me cried out "it's all you need". I have 2 roommates, a buddhist enconomist and a red-headed world traveler. The common area is huge, with high white ceilings and a big window with a sunset view of the Seattle skyline, the space needle, the water and the

2007-08-20T12:21:00.001-07:00

"Arch-Nemesis" performed for some of my favorite folks at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, July 2007c/o Maggie Blur I can't edit it because it's a .mov, so if you want to skip all the jibber jabber, forward to 1:32.

2007-08-18T23:57:00.000-07:00

Seattle, WA It’s late night, and there's an 80's party next door. I am wearing eyeliner and a really great dress. I have left the party to contemplate my kitchen counter. I have a collection of measuring cups. They are a dozen different sizes, but their color is irrelevant. However, they are white. They are very useful for all manner of measurement, particularly in the preparation of light flaky

2007-07-30T09:17:00.000-07:00

Davis, CAmorning rhymes at my oldest friend's houseYellow - red buttonsa pocket full of muttonlisten to my music and I'll listen to your mutteringsyou're the only mire I could get my wellies stuck inso let me keep on truckingto the sound of chickies cluckingI feel like something's leakingthis buggy is all creakingwe travelers are seekinga place to sink our beaks ina creek to dip our feets ina

2007-07-22T12:01:00.000-07:00

La Golondrina: A Night in Granadanon-fictionHere I am in Granada, home of the Alhambra and a beautiful mix of Arabic and Spanish culture... belly dance, tea/hookah houses, flamenco, caves, old Moorish neighborhoods... my cup of hot mil y una noches tea. I've been backpacking alone around Spain after two months spent studying flamenco in Madrid.Last night, I went wandering the winding market

2007-07-22T11:50:00.000-07:00

Penn StationfictionThe traffic was bumper to bumper in the dingy ladies’ room, a line shuffling and tapping between the mirrored walls. There was a steady wooshing of flushes and the women waiting for their trains were standing on one another’s heels. Joann was nearly at the front of the line, only two more, when a wild sheep-haired girl walked past the entire line muttering, “I know Texas is

2007-07-17T14:02:00.000-07:00

good night everybody.

2007-07-05T11:22:00.000-07:00

Santa Fe, New Mexico(morning pages)The bugs are distracting, but I don't feel them unless they hurt me and that's life I guess.Lesson - the world takes care of you as long as you have clear intention in your head. On the other hand, if you dont know what you want and you don't take steps in one direction but rather in several different directions at once, meandering rambling, you don't get

2007-06-28T09:18:00.000-07:00

Echo Amphitheater, Abiquiu, New MexicoThe Feastfor the Ghost Ranch writersThis is our luxuryand I invite you to feastI invite you to sitand feast your mouthalight with wordsthis is our luxuryour burden, our lifeto be and to askwith what shall I dowith all this beautyand such enduring beingthat I be and I be and I beand I see you're wonderingwandering this feast,eyes wateringwhere do we go, what

2007-06-25T12:40:00.000-07:00

Plaza Blanca (The White Place), Abiquiu, New MexicoMoments' Ghost (song)This shuddering bushis no more herethan these towering white rocks.Impossible blue,tell me more about white.I used to be hungry.A bush wiltsA rock meltsBut not hereand not nowTerrible white,colliding with blue.You thirsted for meAnd I moved.Now we are still.Impossible blue,tell me more about white,Terrible white,colliding

2007-06-21T19:31:00.000-07:00

Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, New Mexicotil a landslide brought it down1.No the old things won't do, and those old highways have grass growing out of the center of the roads now. Meanwhile a plan is underway, on the table and in committee, for paving these young dirt paths in the Jemez Woods. They started out as a shadow in the pinestraw, but persistently beat into a line of dirt, each blond grain

2007-06-14T22:05:00.000-07:00

Gozo, October 2006I needed more bottles of water. I put my pouch of money in my pocket, my sunglasses on my face, and strolled out of Ta-l‘ghani for the first time in three days. I stumbled awkwardly down the steep hill, past the uneven Legolike pine trees, my scuffed leather sneakers going flap flap flap as I came down heavily with each dropout step. The real estate dude who rented me Ta-l’ghani

2007-06-10T18:56:00.000-07:00

Seattle, WAThe changing geography of your heart.Coastlines disappear, mountains rise.Central highways no longer lead anywhereByways become more importantSunshine white ohh neyWhile we were shaking in another shadow world where chips are on the table and smoke is thick under the stagelightsSo sex is prominent, everyone is here to pick up, we are lovely, we all are going only together.No there's no

2007-05-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

Stupid Captain.

2007-05-16T14:50:00.000-07:00

naked baby photosMalta, October 2006 She ordered Earl Grey tea, and when it came, she put in two packets of white sugar, spilling half of one of the packets on the table. He watched her bemusedly over his Pita the Great. “I should steal that and use it in a book,” he said. “'She ordered Earl Grey tea and, when it came, she put in two sugars, and she spilled half the sugar on the table.'” She

2007-05-15T20:27:00.000-07:00

Malta, October 2006, a week before the Rolex Middlesea Challenge I had never imagined myself scrubbing a 50 foot racing yacht from top to bottom, inside and out, so this was another one of those 'how did I get here?' moments. As I scrubbed the stairs, some of the crew poked their heads down the hatch to ask for this and that, as if I were the scullery maid in the basement. “Victoria, could

2007-05-14T17:04:00.001-07:00

Malta, October 2006The sun comes gold, splattering my face, steeping into the steam off my tea. It's 6 AM in Sliema and I have no raison d'etre here. I have about 36 hours to go on my fast and 3 full days in town before the ferry leaves for Sicily. Maybe having no reason to be in a place is a lesson too. Maybe we never really have a reason, we just invent them, and obligations, too. A throaty

2007-05-13T11:40:00.000-07:00

Paris, August 2006 Joel left early in the morning to catch his train to the north, to his ferry to Ireland, to his next adventure, alone. We moved silently in the morning sun. We'd been together almost constantly for a month and three days in France. We zoomed through Paris neon nights and woke slowly and quietly on the white beaches of Ile de Re, caught each other's eyes in the magic hour and

2007-05-07T19:42:00.000-07:00

for the sake of emptinessAsheville, North Carolina#20 Believe in the holy contour of lifeCould I just have just one more dance with you, my love?I'm on a strange roadtrip with my parents through NC and Tennessee. I went to Chattanooga to watch an old bellydancer of mine get married, and I danced with her before the (very traditional episcopalian, blood and flesh of christ, etc) wedding and after,

2007-05-07T19:38:00.001-07:00

courtesy of Amelia and a beautiful night in Chattanooga, TNWith That Moon Language Admit something: Everyone you see, you say to them, "Love me." Of course you do not do this out loud, otherwise someone would call the cops. Still, though, think about this, this great pull in us to connect. Why not become the one who lives with a full moon in each eyethat is always saying, with that sweet moon

2007-04-27T09:05:00.000-07:00

"Just look at yourself. Have you always agreed with yourself? You had some idea yesterday; today you may have a different idea. Five years back you had other ideas that do not necessarily agree with the ideas that you have today. So when you have disagreements with yourself, why should it not happen with someone else?The "someone" you have a disagreement with is just a photocopy of your old or

2007-04-27T07:54:00.000-07:00

10/22/06 Ta-l'ghani Gozo, Malta There's a wonder in all this waiting, the quickness of your breath and the woman in the cellar, the quiet uncalled-for moments and the afternoons spent watching the tumble cycle through the washing machine window. “Ven, ven,” said the man on the Barcelona

2007-04-12T11:21:00.001-07:00

Bard College, Annandale, New YorkWhat is a placeWhere our memories haunt the background of someone else's photos, where sneaker footsteps imprinted and disappeared under the next season's broken bits of leaves.I have loved this place like a body and I know the curves and speedbumps inside, outside.The campus is on the verge of an ice rain breakdown, a foggyeyed replay of a night drive to the fork

2007-03-30T23:09:00.000-07:00

Virginia Beach, VAPost Number 200!In three and a half years, I've written 200 posts on this blog. I don't know if anyone reads. I think my friends do, when they're missing me. When they know where I am, they don't read so much. My ex boyfriends probably shy away. There is the occasional Singaporean stumbling in when they google "cat sailboat horizon". So my words fritter out over the internet,

2007-03-16T07:46:00.000-07:00

New York, NY, USAWhen I say I want a lover, what I mean is that I want to go home. And when I say I want to go home, I mean I'm tired. By tired, I mean I'm scared of this craziness. And by scared I mean that I'm thrilled. And by thrilled I mean agape, wondrous, miraculous, terrified, in love, falling, lost, sad, overjoyed, overflowing, empty and hungrier with every bite, wanting and content,

2007-03-03T10:47:00.000-08:00

TEl Aviv, IsraelI'm coming home soon.I have tired eyes and fluffy hair and there's more of me than I expect. I'm not ashamed of my flaws and I get so sad sometimes, but not like you think. Here I am talking about myself again as I have arrived in this instant so maybe I can figure out what that means, to be arriving again, and then again. I don't know what's for me now and am curious to find out

2007-02-20T09:20:00.000-08:00

october 11, 2006Chieftain - Mediterranean SeaHeading: 107 Now what is this - moving East, farther and farther from home, playing memory reels in the moonlight to stay awake and eating popcorn and grinning at the joy of it, the pain is draining out. But where am I going with this endless boat ride, zoomcrawling ahead at 8 nauts with the wind right in our faces, the emptiness of going forward?

2007-02-20T09:17:00.000-08:00

sweet old friend

2007-02-08T07:52:00.000-08:00

Athens, GreeceMunchkin, you're just a tadpole in this uphill stream! And I'm a merrily twirled maypole. So it's a grouchy mayday and no one's too unhappy nor too happy. It's a wornout sunday with too many streamers. I like my sunshine straightup, so we'll be on our way.We'll procure a haystack full of moonshine and communicate out fondest regards.We'll dance Delphi by moonlight and mail a BIG

2007-01-22T07:39:00.000-08:00

Madelaine Farm, Kostelia, Fokidos, GreeceIn the Shadow of the TruckIn the shadow of the truckEveryone lays down his pensWe split our chicken breastsand take off different waysDespite the season's gloamingswe pack our bags once morewrap green around a broken boneand throw old jeans awayOh, I'm a lonely hunterI cannot climb a treeI know a ribbon's flavorI've scrubbed a world class deckThe

2006-12-29T13:16:00.000-08:00

This is a dance. This light and melancholy piano solo sounds like this is the way things have always been, with sunlight falling through a window and quiet but passionate feelings clutched to your breast with your back turned. Then there are some yellow flowers in a crystal vase on the windowsill and the sun leaks through the petals and the water and we're thinking, ¨oh.¨ You adjust your hat

2006-12-19T02:33:00.000-08:00

Madrid, Spain¨So if we could just sit here in the sun for awhile...¨ The benches are two square blocks kitty corner to each other, so Tia and her grandmother sit facing each other's right shoulders. Or they could sit with their backs not touching. Tia wonders who designed such benches, and are they designed to bring people together or apart? ¨The sun feels just fine,¨ her grandmother is saying

2006-12-16T09:11:00.000-08:00

Roma, Italia Sometimes it's not easy and beautiful! Nor is it bad or unpleasant! Sometimes it just be unadorned and then you snuggle deeper in the cowl of the purple sweater and it's all for you. We're a pink suited music video, a mispronounced Italian word, a surprising and devillish lack of hunger at dinnertime. No one's a monk here but there's God love in our winter jackets. Frankly, I don't

2006-11-22T09:04:00.000-08:00

Campo San Marco, Paterno', Sicily, ItalySignora Maria with her jet black hair is pulling flaming logs out of the brick oven and throwing them out the door. She uses a wet palm frond broom to sweep the inside of the oven clean of glowing embers, and when she dips the broom back in the bucket of water, the water goes dark gray and steam sighs upwards.When the oven is clean and dark, we peel back

2006-10-28T06:07:00.000-07:00

Wine Full of Moonwith 1001 regards to Rumi and Coleman BarksLove says, Try to resist me, just tryI say, It's true, you're like the bubbles in wineOne minute you appear, and the next you go awayLove says, I get drunk on the delicious light of dayUntil the night steals my cupThen I insist that the night give it upLove says, I'll come to you like candlelightI'll flicker and burn strong all through