Bamboo house

Rooms - lacunae in the bamboo - are almost indiscernible, joined by narrow passageways between stalks percussing, tuned by grace. When we first found the standit was dusk,the mass of dense bamboo full of the movement and music of birds.Wall of soundWe thought we had come upon a house.Now just a mound - wild roses, … Continue reading Bamboo house →

Memories are not in the Past

I started this project to record something - an event that is very small - in different ways. I had watched a bird find a piece of plastic (which I didn't know was there) in my garden, struggle to pull it loose, then fly away with it. And I thought over the best way to … Continue reading Memories are not in the Past →

Mortar & pestle

1. You said - my friendship with you is one of the joys of my adult life.or was it- my friendship with you has been one of the joys of my lifeor was it- our friendship is one of the joys of my adult life.We were in the kitchen cooking and talking. I was squatting … Continue reading Mortar & pestle →

Water

I started to fill a bowl with waterIn which to brine a duck for Easter The sound of water falling from the tapFalling into water in the bowlBrought to me the memory of waterFalling into water twenty years ago.

Flashlight

The light glowed in the surf in the dark, brightening and dimming and almost disappearing with the roll and recoil of water. It was too far in to get without committing to fight the waves which had just hit us broadside so high and so hard I reached out to you and clutched your arm … Continue reading Flashlight →

Twist tie

You stepped in and stood behind me, gatheredmy hair loosely and bound it with a twisttie from the drawer. I looked to the left, notunderstanding you were protecting mefrom my task at the sink. I had swung my hair to get it to stay behind my shoulders and you saw that I had orderedthings wrong … Continue reading Twist tie →

Box Turtles

I have been wanting to write about bamboo. Instead I find myself thinking about box turtles. Yesterday I came upon one on the path, dull-colored, it's shell broken in one place, a scale fallen away and lost like a stray roof tile, a scuffed substrate beneath and I wondered how many more lay beneath that … Continue reading Box Turtles →

Spoon

I gave you my back as he gave me his: I wanted to be held without holding. I wanted to be touched without touching. I wanted to be kissed without kissing, to be bitten, to be clenched, and pressed. And you did. You bumped your head against me. Like a cat, you pointed out. And … Continue reading Spoon →

Words

Maybe I should have left you alone to disappear. Instead I wrapped you in poetry when I felt you slip from me; I wanted my words to tether you, like long stitches pulled through the membrane of your soul -- a word-thread I stretched between us and knotted in my skin all the places you … Continue reading Words →

Ass

I'm starting something new under the rubric of the tiny event. It's an experiment in cartography - the mapping of associations and memories connected to different parts of my body. This is the beginning of the project. I should perhaps have started at the top and worked down. Instead I started at the root. [This … Continue reading Ass →