A day of art, music, delicious food and good company

Today was a very good day. I got up bright and early to go teach the 3rd graders with Elizabeth. We taught them how to write alphabet poems and I think it went really well! One of the girls even wrote about me and Elizabeth in her poem. It was so precious and touching.

Right after teaching, I picked up Jaime and we headed out to the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh for our 1960s Lit and Culture class. Only our teacher and a few other people from our class went but while we were there, we met Jaime's grandpa and aunt. The museum was great.

Then after the museum we met her other aunt at Kaya, a fantastic "island cuisine" restaurant/bar. I got curry vegetables and rice which was DELICIOUS. We ate and talked for quite a while. I found out that her aunt is getting married to her girlfriend in the summer and that they're making each other's wedding rings at a craft place (how cute is that??).

After dinner we went to the craft/art store since it was right across the street. It had tons of amazing art including glass, ceramics, jewelry, charms and other such things. I wanted to buy everything there (but it was all very expensive.)

Then we said goodbye and started heading back to Ohio. We listened/sang along to nothing but The Beatles the whole ride back.

When I got back to Ohio, me, my mom and the siblings went out to Aladdin's for dinner. And now I'm sitting here at the apartment drinking wine and writing a poem for tomorrow. Good day.

Born from the Wind

Born from the wind,
we moved through air
like grass

Our hair clicked
against our earlobes,
bare breasts brushed
against t-shirts,
naked feet pounded
the earth like bombs-
but instead of leaving ruin,
we left words,
music,
flowers

We raised our arms
to the sky
to pull the clouds
a little closer,
to make the earth
a little softer

We flew on
each other’s backs
from New York
to LA
and back to New York

We handed out flyers,
even if no one wanted them
held signs until
our arms melted from the pain,
shouted milky protests
from broken throats,
asked passersby
Can you dig it?

Well, what exactly are you digging?
a straight once asked me
and I told him-

We are digging
for knowledge,
for self-acceptance,
for a world
that doesn’t know
the meaning of a bomb
but the meaning of a smile

People need to
get with the words,
hear some lingo,
talk
to each other

Loaded on language,
loaded on drugs
we kept on haulin’

Kept on haulin’
‘til the clouds
floated back to the sky,
‘til the drugs wore off,
‘til the edges of the flyers
folded and browned,
and all that was left
of the groove
was the tug of the wind
in our bones

The aftermath

I stole three rings from Target today. I need to stop doing that. I feel like karma's going to come and nip me in the ass one of these days.

But my birthday weekend was great. Quite a few of my friends came out to the Professor's Pub on Friday, and the party last night was full of dancing and laughing and drinking and more dancing. Our wine rack is actually full for once and the apartment is (surprisingly) still clean. All in all, good weekend. :)

But my birthday has thrown me off track of writing, so I'll probably be a bit of a recluse the next week-ish to catch up.

Hope all is well with everyone.

February '10

After two months of neglect, I've started up my monthly poems again! I'm not sure I like this one very much but here's February '10:

Blood oozes from the thumb like lipstick
I slouch toward the sky
We stain our hands with stones
I was left in the kitchen with broken pieces of your shoulder
I heard her speaking but no words came out
She dries her feet to step in water
Lies between thighs
Eating an emotion leaves a strange feeling in the belly
She melts in the bathwater in a puddle of anomalies

Is it possible for words to be unvocal?

3-4-10

I read some poetry today at the Women's Resource Center for Women's History Month (as well as Bri, Demi and quite a few other girls whom I wasn't too familiar with). It was such a nice experience! The room we were in was very quaint and cozy, everyone was really nice and polite, it was really interesting to hear the range of poets, and I was really glad that Kat Blackbird chose me to be a part of it. Not to mention, today has been the first sunny, semi-warm days in months. Thank goodness! Hope everyone's enjoying the sunshine.

I will melt

(click to enlarge)

I'm sick of feeling buried by the snow.

I'm ready for spring.