Tonight

House whispering
Rain pattering
Wind blowing
Legs entwining
You breathing
Me squinting
At this phone
Through vitamin e-oiled
Eyelids
Deciding what to write

Oh hush

The river of your smile lines kept me going
Neither backwards nor forwards
Just marching in place
One. Two. Three. Four.

a thought

In a speech Amy Poehler gave to Harvard students she said:
"Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you. Spend a lot of time with them and it will change your life."

Crosstown

Exiting the subway and crossing 14th St., I headed to Veselka on First ave. I met you for lunch. I remember it well. I was hurried. It was Wednesday. Ash Wednesday. I watched those around me; the ones with ashes on their foreheads.

It was our third meeting. A New York afternoon in February. The middle of the day; a nice day- seemingly sunny. A moment in time. You looked hungover and I tried not to eat too much.

After we ate, I got a coffee and we walked. We walked through Greenwich village, Little Italy and Soho. Your eyes on me, we talked. We smiled.

And then you headed downtown and I headed back to my harlem haven, where everything was grittier and I felt so belonged.

the day laslow the snake shed his skin

Yesterday Karin's sunset-orange snake shed its skin. Whole. In one big piece. It looked like a giant condom sitting there on her bedroom dresser.

I don't know if I've ever been as close to a snake as I was yesterday. Karin has six snakes. Three boys and three girls. They were all beautiful.

Karin says that snakes can't really hear, but they are sensitive to all vibrations, including sound vibrations. She says they can sense your energy. She says that if your are calm when you hold the snake, then the snake will be calm and go limp in your arms.

All afternoon Laslow kept slithering around all over himself. He was feeling up his new skin while all the other snakes slept.