"nomad" - 4/26/11

last night I saw a big Hollywood movie depicting a compasionate
glamourous woman who happened to ride an elephant in a circus

the actress lovely and her love-interest handsome

I was struck more than once by how poignant it seemed to be at the movie by myself
though to my credit I'd only gone out for a walk in the rain

found myself suddenly buying a ticket, knowing full well my suitcase wasn't packed yet
for a five week trip for which I'd be leaving later on that same evening

the biggest lesson I absorbed sitting there in the dark with
beautiful model-esque actors portraying characters of a brave, bygone era

was not only that I am a gypsy by nature but that I'm also a lover of
circus sights, sounds, smells, popcorn, candy, collective thrills

forging worlds from nothing then tearing them down in one reckless, celebratory swoop
tents arising from dirt animals dancing drunk with oblivion's elixir

what is there to pack then that I can't pick up along the way newly resolved

to savour adventure I leave the theater altered, undeterred by wondering's albatross

"Echoes" - 4/22/11

though I've never seen a real canyon
I've seen some in pictures and
I stood above a copper mine
in a ghost town once, in Arizona

the locals told me not to drink the water
too many chemicals had seeped in after
the mining era came and went

tonight somewhere between Canada
and Manhattan my heart is beating
through my feet helping me remember
how to fly like I when I was a child

I used to pretend there were alligators on the blue carpet
where our family guest-room had two single beds
jumping back and forth from one to the other
with my best friend we'd laugh and scream

alive with sheer terror, imagination and joy
living temporarily in our own world
no one else could see what we could feel
waves crashing beneath such practical furniture

people think distance destroys like poison
but through this dilligent distance I hear echoes
of the future as well as the past and a sense that laughter

is pleading with me to listen to the kisses lifting me up like stars