Thursday, July 15, 2021

"look for the helpers"




 I had so much help yesterday:


from the scummy

Nu skimming off pond scum








to the yummy 

At making a strawberry, arugula, feta salad

Wednesday, July 14, 2021

unpronounceable

I have taken these photos
no one will be looking at  
I have repeated my sights
until emptied of meaning

each one special as a child:
emotions--a trembling skin 
old memories--pause at will, 
a flip-book I cannot control

I have buried the bad sounds,
you can't say them anymore
soon I will be lost, exploring,
then unravel love for myself

I can announce to strangers
that I survived, can say I am
renewed, though I still carry  
this ventriloquist's act of you

Tuesday, July 13, 2021

Jig



Seaplane back to Seattle today.

I got to play copilot too.

Play copilot--I didn't actually touch any of the controls... 

I guess that had a lot to do with how I made it to Seattle, then to Detroit, and finally home today.


Monday, July 12, 2021

island times


Off to San Juan Islands --> 
Friday Harbor --> 

Day tripping to Cattlepoint, the lighthouse, lawn games, barbecue, dancing, laughing and snarking on cousins' old Chennai stories about 27D (bus # not Apt. #), cousins learning to play the parai, slideshows, baby cousins, laser-point astronomy demos, and chatting until I fell asleep on someone's couch... 

I have this seascape with the seagull on "loop" mode on my phone and know that I'll come back to this when I need a mental/emotional breather.


Sunday, July 11, 2021

Meanwhile



Another day of catching up on the last year with fam, and so many I hadn't seen in years. S Auntie and I always end up reminiscing about when she babysat us and I always remember the pencil eraser she had that was shaped like a bulldog. 

Meanwhile back at home, Nu loved the Boss Day presents I packed for them before we left.

Saturday, July 10, 2021

Loveliness


It has been magical. This gathering of happy faces and hugs... congratulations, commiserations, reminiscences, and sweet sillinesses. Turned out, seeing A+M getting married was the cure to my pandemic year.

So much group dancing practice, group dancing, dancing with Big A. Turns out I still remember all the words to the Spice Girls, and when the DJ slipped into Bohemian Rhapsody for a minute, Big A and I promptly decided... it was a slow dance. Ha. 

Friday, July 09, 2021

Travel


 I guess this is really happening and we're headed for A+M's wedding in Seattle after all. Big A was going to do whatever I wanted to... which made me feel even more pressure to vet every tiny detail and decision.

But here we are, about to take off, it's beautiful, and... I'm so excited.

Thursday, July 08, 2021

"that's how the light gets in"

we're looking for someone
we haven't seen in... years
memories--folded, refolded,
stored safely like souvenirs
 
so when you reach across 
the table to take my hand 
I already know how you'll 
want to summon a heaven

so full of holes, we lost 
places, people, all we still
seek--yet our hands open 
to applaud how light leaks in 


Title: 
Leonard Cohen--"There's a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in."
Rumi-- "Stay with it. The wound is the place where the Light enters you."


Wednesday, July 07, 2021

the wild taxonomies of family chat






"Baby deer," read Big A's title of his portrait of Hucky on the picnic table faking a height advantage. 







Not to be outdone, Nu (a.k.a The Chicken Daddy) titled a group picture of their growing chickies--"dogs."

Tuesday, July 06, 2021

in conclusion



beauty is an accident in the day
borrowed with permission
a cataclysm

we are ones feasting on leftovers
mouths wide with awe
and appetence

as skin tightens on our tired flesh
we find brilliant secret plots
of resurrection

Monday, July 05, 2021

This happened



We got our picnic after all...

Nu and I got At to smile by asking about Mark Fisher 🤣...


here's an idea...

Pic: Here it is in all its gritty glory: "the reason you should care... is not that it could happen to you but that it is already happe...