tattoos and memories and dead skin on trial

***WARNING: IF YOU THINK SCABS ARE GROSS, STOP READING RIGHT NOW.***

last week i got my second tattoo (the first 4 lines of Langston Hughes' poem "Island"). a tattoo is basically someone carving a wound into your body; after you get one, your skin has to heal, as with any other cut. much to my delight and fascination, my scabs starting falling off in entire letters, which i naturally collected and rearranged into this statement, which is pretty much my mantra these days. cool, huh?

OOJ: Ocean in the Sky

SAT-ABQ airplane view

do you see waves or clouds when you look at this? i see both: foaming waves lapping against the sunset, but also clouds b/c i know i was in an airplane flying from san antonio to phoenix (though i don't understand why i had to fly over ABQ to phoenix in order to catch a connecting flight to ABQ).

OOJ: Moon Goddess

view from airplane heading into San Antonio, TX

happy fall moon festival!!

abq has been uncharacteristically overcast for the past couple of weeks; i've been missing my nightly visits with my sister, the moon. but luckily for me, i got to see this from my window seat on the flight to san antonio, just in time for the moon festival (my favorite holiday). i wish you all a clear sky tonight so that you too can greet the moon goddess.

SOD: "Crooked Smile", J. Cole

today's song of the day, J.Cole's "Crooked Smile", has been getting lots of radio play lately, which is great for a radio junkie like me. but there are definitely days when i'm sick of hearing the commercial male rapper voice- so tired of listening to guys brag about money + b*****s. "crooked smile" is the oasis in the mainstream rap desert (ok, he does mention b******s. sigh.): j.cole recognizes how illusions of perfection in the media can make us feel small + inferior, and also calls out our nation's imperfections while he's at it.

On my way, on my way, on my way down
On my way, on my way, on my way down
You're the one that was tryna keep me way down
But like the sun, know you know I found my way back 'roundThey tell me I should fix my grill cause I got money now
I ain't gon' sit around and front like I ain't thought about it
A perfect smile is more appealing but it's funny how
My shit is crooked look at how far I done got without it

I keep my twisted grill, just to show the kids it's real
We ain't picture perfect but we worth the picture still
I got smart, I got rich, and I got bitches still
And they all like my eyebrows: thick as hell


Love yourself, girl, or nobody will
Though you're a woman, I don't know how you deal
With all the pressure to look impressive and go out in heels; I feel for you
Killing yourself to find a man that'll kill for you


You wake up, put makeup on, stare in the mirror
But it's clear that you can't face what's wrong; no need to fix
What God already put his paint brush on; your roommate yelling
"Why you gotta take so long?" What it's like to have a crooked smile
This crooked smileWe don't look nothin' like the people on the screen
You know the movie stars, picture perfect beauty queens
But we got dreams and we got the right to chase 'em


Look at the nation, that's a crooked smile braces couldn't even straighten
Seem like half the race is either on probation
Or in jail; wonder why we inhale
Cause we in hell already - I ask if my skin pale
Would I then sell like Eminem or Adele?

POD: Kobayashi Issa

9/10/13, soft pastel, nupastel, charcoal

haven't had a poem of the day in a while. 
today i give you two, both by japanese haiku poet Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828):

the world of dew-
a world of dew it is indeed,
and yet, and yet...

(trans. lewis mackenzie)


all the time i pray to buddha
i keep on
  killing mosquitoes.

(trans. robert hass)

OOJ: Art in the Park

every fall, OFFCenter Community Arts Project organizes a folk art festival in Robinson Park, ABQ, complete with a giant puppet parade (center). here's a collage of some of my faves. i actually ended up taking the wooden bird (upper left) home with me; i named him francisco.

It's Chile Time Again!

i'm not one for traditions, but if i stay in ABQ, the Hatch Chile Festival might become one. this was my second time making the pilgrimage to the green chile capital of the world, and i ended up repeating many of the things i did last year: picked out a new ristra to hang from my door (upper left pic); bought a rusa (squirt lemon-lime soda + chamoy + red chile powder + salt + orange slices) from a woman who remembered me from last year (!!?!); and took home half a sack of roasted green chile peppers (this year we were prepared + brought a cooler). 

bonus: found this spray-painted on a wall outside of a bar in las cruces