A poet is like a visual photographer

He shapes letters into color and emotion.

Captures an instant in a phrase

Gives life and meaning to cold ink



A duck on a pond is not just a duck on a pond

But the embodiment of the clumsy side of nature

Floating aimlessly on the dark, rippling water,

Droplets tumbling onto and over its sleek wings

Then plunging its head in with a carefree disregard

Waggling its tail like a feathery banner

Until disturbed by a suspicious branch



A poet cannot simply exist

He must BE

Both for others

And for himself

He must notice the minute

Writes to save the moment,

To remember

To share

To see

To live.


I haven't written for a while now.

I wonder if I'm going blind

Or dying.

musica

sit me in a silent office for four hours and i start singing to myself. having already sung in the shower, and in anticipation of a concert later on, as well as the sheer fact that spring is on it's way, my mind wazed rather verbous. the results are as follows and, as always, it's a first draft, so criticism is welcome.

i can't read music
i don't know notes, theories, or keys
still, i can't seem to contain
this strange rhythmn

so i sing it in the shower
i wash it down the drain
the water knows my passions
but my secret's safe behind the bathroom door.

i wish i knew their lessons
i wish i understood, but i don't
at times my heart longs to share
but it's a foreign game to me.

so i sing it in the shower
i wash it down the drain
the water knows my passions
but my secret's safe behind the bathroom door.

base and treble
time and tempo
all elude me
i just want to sing.

one day i'll learn and raise my voice up to the sky
but for now i'll save it for the shower
where my feeling is just mine

i lather up in music
rinse myself in song
it pours down my head and body
and i bid it so long

occam's dilemma

one of my friends from work came back from the Christmas holiday sporting a mustache.a few days later, i heard the other male in our group commenting on how he himself was thinking of growing a 'stache. this set me to thinking; you never hear a girl come casually into work and say, "i may just stop shaving for a while. i think it'd be stylish." or even better, "you know, i'm thinking about shaving stripes into my leg hair."
this presents a strange sociality for us: on the one hand, male facial hair is much more prominent and obvious than female leg hair. and yet, it is much more of a social faux pas for a female not to shave than it is for a male not to shave. why is that?

every once and again, i get the impression that i step outside of time. the chronological classification and stereotypes go out the window and i'm left with people solely as entities in and of themselves. it's an interesting experience, and one that has occurred with more frequency since i've graduated. there are so many barriers that are in place when dealing with time. remove them and the individual comes out a lot more. of course, this is the case when any stereotype or boundry is removed. i kind of like the perspective one get with a lack of time.
however, i must attach a warning: while in my timeless state, i happened to fall asleep and did not set my alarm. i woke up, and had to be at work in twenty minutes. alas, time calls.

*i need to start shooting in film again. i'm getting sloppy.

bedhead-ed

Introduction:
it is seven-o-clock in the morning. i went to bed sometime after 12:30 last night, which gives me enough sleep to put on a facade of cognition without actually having anyone behind the curtain. i have a test later today, and i'm not yet prepared; anxiety level is running higher than average. aside from these two things, what more introducksun do you need?
thEsis:
this should be that friends should not let friends write tired. but it's not. you're too late (or early, as the case may be)for that. real thesis: there are three different kinds of bedhead--the good, the bad, and the ugly.
bodY:
the first type of bedhead--the good--is the obviously the most mild of the three. the Mama bear, if you will. this is the i-did-my-hair-before-going-to-sleep-and-slept-in-the-most-awkward-position-ever-to-keep-it-that-way style. admittedly, i've pulled this stunt on multiple occasions, usually when i know that someone is going to "kidnap" me early in the morning, or my brothers are going to force me into family activities before i have a chance to look anything close to alive.
type numbero two: the bad. this is the average bedhead. it's generally not too messed up; a little frizzy, flat on one side, and a couple of curly roostertails for spice. this style is, in fact, increasingly becoming a socially-acceptable doo. it's usually accompanied by tight pants and heavy eye-liner. sadly.
as for the third, and final, type of bedhead, the best way to describe it is through anecdote: my brother's been growing his hair out recently, and it's gotten to the stage where there is a great variation in lengths, though all go past his ears and on a whole it looks like a hollywood science experiment gone wrong. think elephant toothpaste. it was in this circumstance that my brother retired. when we finally pried him from his bedsheets in the morning, it was evident that he'd had a hard night. his hair gave all the expression that his could not--it was as though a cottonball had been doused in alcohol and lit with a blond fire, then tied into knots by a brand new boyscout who was running around on carpet in his socks. such hair stood in blatant defiance of the laws of gravity except for a slight undulation as my brother walked.
and that is only the ugly for my brother's shaggy, overgrown mane. one can only imagine the effect with over twice the length and the stress of finals adding to the mixture. the ugly is not to be mocked. it is to be feared.
ConclUsion:
the day may come when you will encounter me, or some other helpless, psychotic undergraduate in such a state as i currently am: in my pajamas, slumped against my computer, eyes half-closed and bleary, hair half-way between the bad and the ugly, chewing on a pen and muttering to myself as an occasional tremor shakes both my head and hand. should this happen, do not walk away! please gently remove the keyboard from my flighty fingers, the pen from my mouth (there's probably one in my hair as well), ignore my senseless scholastic prattle, wrap my in a blanket, and send me to the couch.

imagery

a sequence of morning thoughts at house over breakfast:
-you know, fairytales aren't all that they're cracked up to be...
--yeah, like, do you know how much it could hurt if someone climbed your hair? plus, imagine the slip ends.
-do you know how hard it would be to climb hair?
--very true. unless you put some hairspray or something in it to give it texture.
-or you could use all that hairspray to rat it.
--that would make an awesome afro. repunzal at the disco...

there are few things better on halloween than having a friend come to visit you at work dressed as ghangis khan. mav, your cousin is my hero for the day.

f.h.e-stranged

my brother decided to go to a friend's fhe tonight, and took the car, so i couldn't go to my own fhe. it's fine, because i've just been doing homework, but my family has gotten progressively weirder as the night's gone on. they're decorating for halloween, in traditional family style, aka: dressing up stuffed animals to hang around the house. so far we have a flying, winged, devil-monkey; a bulldog dressed up as a bunny; and a skeleton with the face of strongsad. i'm not sure what to think yet, but i'm pretty sure it was a good idea on nathan's part to take his friend elsewhere instead of staying here as he originally thought.

all of the above?

the week has spawned some peculiar questions, and i really like getting answers. one funny thing though is that there are many people (okay, one in particular) who way over-analyze them. just say no. in any case, i'm still curious, and these tell more about you than most getting-to-know-you questions, so i'd appreciate answers to at least one of the following. bonus points if you make me laugh! also, feel free to ask any questions pressing on your mind (what do you do with a drunken sailor?).

-if you were in a commercial, what product would you endorse and why?
-what was your favorite halloween costume you've had? what are you planning on being for halloween?
-what's your favorite christmas treat or smell?
-what reminds you most of home, and what do you miss most (this is best for those still under their parents' roof)?
-describe one of your elementary school teachers and your perception of him/her.
-what age do you perceive yourself to be and why?
-tell me a story.
-pick a number between yes and purple

trade me seats, anyone?

i've occasionally felt that in the play of life i'd do best as a side character. honestly, they get to watch the whole thing from the best seats in the house and just have to interact once and again as the comic relief.
most of the time i can sit back and watch the play, but for some reason i've been thrust into the main light for this section, and i am more envious than ever of those blasted side characters. truth be told (if you look at the last paragraph, we are being honest after all), my current situation would probably be Hilarious if i were not tangled up in the middle of it. it's followed me to work and my coworkers are having a field day.
what's even more frustrating is that yesterday i thought that i had come to a good conclusion. i made a decision, but then i got home and things changed again, so now i'm back at square one. Curses.
can i be changed into a cow and go home?

due to my dizzying intellect...

ever found yourself disoriented on your own front doorstep? awkward.
i had a date tonight. he's really tall, which is fine, i'm used to tall people, but as he walked me to my door a realized exactly how tall he was. normally, i don't hug people around the hips. especially on the first date. so i was going to just stand on the step for an extra half-foot, but i took a step and he took a step too. now what do i do? i take another step and he'll follow me again, stepping down won't help things at all, i'm still short, he's still tall...ummm...luckily in my confusion he took a step down again. i seized the moment and made my getaway. safe!

appropriation

i am giving a talk tomorrow at the local senior care center. i don't have a topic. my family suggested chastity.

cheese vs. yogurt--it's in the culture

alice rocked back on her heals and shifted her toes in her shoes, puzzled yet again. smoothing her frock, she tried to think of what she said that now had the caterpillar in a heated self-discussion. at least, it made more sense for him to be talking to himself; he jumped subjects so quickly that alice felt slightly dizzy from just trying to listen.

as she continued to watch the excited insect prattle on, alice slowly began to string a few of his words together like beads for a hodge-podge necklace, but his response still made very little sense in relation to what she had said. afraid to say anything else that might further agitate the life-sized bug, alice simply nodded to reassure him in his point, plopped heavily into a sitting position on the ground for which nanny would have scolded her, and sighed. the words the caterpillar spoke were familiar to her, but it was far from the same language.

3x5 -- john mayer

I'm writing you to
catch you up on places I've been
And you have this letter
you probably got excited, but there's nothing else inside it
didn't have a camera by my side this time
hoping I would see the world through both my eyes
maybe I will tell you all about it when I'm
in the mood to lose my way with words
TODAY skies are painted colors of a cowboy cliche'
And its strange how clouds that look like mountains in the sky
are next to mountains anyway
Didn't have a camera by my side this time
Hoping I would see the world through both my eyes
Maybe I will tell you all about it when I'm
in the mood to lose my way
but let me say
You should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes
it brought me back to life
You'll be with me next time I go outside
NO more 3x5's
I Guess you had to be there
I Guess you had to be with me
Today I finally overcame
tryin' to fit the world inside a picture frame
Maybe I will tell you all about it when I'm in the mood to
lose my way but let me say
You should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes
it brought me back to life
You'll be with me next time I go outside
no more 3x5's
just no more 3x5's

half way

it's more than half way through the summer. it's strange to me that it's that close until i start school again, in a different setting than i'm used to. i'm excited though--i looked and i will have met my financial goal for the new semester! and, i got a small scholarship. *do a little dance!*

i was drawing again yesterday. sending me to work without anything to do is a bad idea.

fourth flag

actually, there are five.
i didn't take as many pictures as i was planning on. things turned out a little differently than i thought they would. at any rate, at one point i decided to shoot the flag (wow, that sounds anti-patriotic) for angle-work. i really liked the sun. and the flag. America is pretty Awesome. i love her a lot. go USA. and i remembered to shrink the pictures! Happy Fourth, all!

summ summ summertime

honestly, i had more fun this year than i have before, and i didn't spend a dime.

i love summerfest. and the parade is one of my favorites. i mean, how often is it that traffic is completely stopped, crazy people drive (and walk) the streets, and everybody cheers? the town loves it. and the whole town is there. people were claiming patches of grass for days before the parade.


even people (or mascots) from other towns come. i love cosmo, and on a segue, he's prime. if i could do one of those "sexy cat" meows, this would be the place for it.





i like this one because it's a good overall shot of the carnaval. and i love the way the ticket booth in the middle glows. that's pretty awesome.



and the fireworks are just plain cool. you have to realize though, that the folder of my favorites, has fifty pictures in it. these aren't even the best, they just are the first ones that caught my eye. i might put some more up sometime, but these will do for now. have a great summer, all.



p.s.- i remembered to make them all small!

the living dead!

i need to write something right because i don't know how long this will last; my keyboard has come back to life! a joyful noise is issuing from my hay-fevered throat. i love hernandez at the moment. he gets to stay for another term.

End of part one. Intermission

too early, too late

reading poetry and taking naps does thinks to a person. this is definitely not finished, but if it's not down somewhere, it'll go away too.


s c a t te r e d
like the rainbow in a summer sprinkler
i'm sure it was fanTastic
i remember Colors, Sounds and Laughter
it felt Good, i think
now i'm just aWake and mildly conFused
if only i could remember what it was