What a strange, beautiful world

I drove out to Chicago with my boyfriend, Shaun, on Tuesday morning. I can't even explain how amazing that city is. We didn't have time to do much site seeing since when we got to the hotel, we had to leave for the Jónsi show. But what I did see of the city made me want to stay. We grabbed some really good slices of pizza on the way and ran into the Vic Theater.

The show was great. Jónsi's voice was beautiful (he sounded like a recording), the set-up was beautiful, the entire experience was beautiful. After the show, Shaun and I took the elevator to the 22nd floor of the hotel and stood out on the terrace to see the city at night. Everything was peaceful. Even the clouds the day after the show were calm.

I've more or less been inside my head since I got back.

Since I didn't get any photos or videos of the show, here's what the show looked like:


jónsi - sinking friendships (live) from Jónsi on Vimeo.

New poem

This is based off of a painting from a Vietnamese child. The Wick Poetry Center has a really great project going with these children's paintings and poets from across the country. Here's the website if you're interested: http://dept.kent.edu/wick/Outreach/Projects.html

And here's the link to see the painting I referred to (it's #14):

http://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B5X_Yzy_S6C8Y2FkOWVmMmEtZWI5Ni00ZGYyLTkyYjgtMDZiN2QwZDk1YWZi&hl=en

Extermination
After war painting #14 – “Extermination”

The man directly
to the right of me
is shot first
His left index finger
lands at my feet

Shards of glass
from the market
beside me
falls from the sky
like broken leaves

The sun is so bright
I can’t see the helicopter
only the body
and my own
shaking arms

The shot hits
before I hear it
The bag of groceries
I was carrying falls
to the ground

Clouds like mushrooms
rise from the dirt
like the ones my wife
cooks for dinner
on days she’s feeling lonely

Sophie

I don't have a title for this one yet. When I first wrote it, I was pretty pleased with it but now that I'm re-reading/editing, I'm not sure how I feel about it. Comments/critiques appreciated.

Sophie cut two large zinnias
over the femoral vein of each thigh
with a razor when her neighbor
found her, walking in

to borrow a tablespoon of lemon juice

Her neighbor had to catch a plane to Austria
and the hospital let Sophie go
a few hours later after discovering
that she did not have health insurance

Sophie walked to the fresh market
across the street, bought
three eggplants and walked back
to her apartment

After cleaning the blood from the bathroom
Sophie went to the kitchen, peeled
one of the eggplants in stripes, cut it into cubes,
lightly salted it, and fried it in oil
for about twenty minutes

After she was done eating, she read
fifteen more pages of Diderot’sJacques le fataliste (in French)
and went to bed

The next morning,
she ate another eggplant for breakfast,
added some leaves and bumblebees
to the zinnias on her thighs
and took a bus to the hospital
after realizing that she still had
thirty-two pages of the novel to read

On the way back,
she stopped by the market again
to buy a pair of thick gardening gloves
and seven packets of seeds
(green peppers, strawberries, tomatoes,
sunflowers, squash, zinnias and eggplants)

Sophie planted the flowers
and the eggplants in the small garden
on her balcony and went inside
to make some raspberry lemonade,
sit in her mustard yellow armchair
and read the last thirty-two pages

P.S. I have a new hair cut. Here's a photo (click for full size):

4-5-10

New York was great! I didn't want to leave. We didn't really do any touristy kinds of things, considering I did all that the first few times I was there and we're all broke. We mainly just walked around, ate and drank.

But now back to school. I'm setting some goals for myself for the rest of the semester. I'm going to try to exercise at least twice a week (yoga, bike riding, jogging), eat more (I think this may be contributing to my 24/7 exhaustion), write a poem a week, and start thinking seriously about what to do after graduation. I'm also conducting a little experiment with myself. I've always had problems with stomachaches. I feel like everything I eat upsets my stomach. My mom is hypoglycemic, has thyroid problems, and has dairy and wheat allergies (which means all of these lovely things were probably passed down to me). So this week, I'm eating no dairy to see how I react. Then next week, no wheat. If my belly still hates me, I may have to go to a doctor and/or nutritionist. Bahhh.

But on the bright side, there's only six weeks left until summer. Can't wait.

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.