poetry

i find the city to be far less attractive than the un-tainted earth.
take a plant from the other side of the world, stick it in a pot,
and cut off some of it's branches,
how could that possibly be more attractive than the tree
right outside your window?

life is better with an exposed heart. i thought about it and it's true.
turns out i don't expose my heart to that to which i am not attracted.

who came up with these styles?
this one, a copy of a 500 year old english home - why?
why should i care about your interesting stairway architecture?
how can that look better here than something OF this land?
could i expose my heart to something this unnattractive?

Authentic Sombrero Sahuayo
why do you torture me so?
you are so wonderful for blocking the suns rays
couldn´t you just leave it at that?

must you carry in your tightly sewn straw weave
a thousand and one possibilities for me to be judged?

untitled poem:

this place is unremarkable

surrounded by jungle, invaded by fog
at night the trees drip drops like rain
on the tatch-roofed anbandoned dining room
where i slung my hammock

it´s not DEEP jungle, it´s not undeveloped
but then, it´s not well-developed either

slow-served breakfast by the light of the TV
an eternally recycling HBO promo atop the coke machine

and the work of the day in the backgroundç
cutting grass, with a machete

merry christmas. what went on back there?
i was out in el remate, on the shore of lago petén itza. it´s a huge lake, and some of the towns near it are polluting it enough that you wouldn´t want to swim there...but here in el remate it´s plenty clean and a gorgeous temperature and highly swimmable. the hotel i stayed at had a windsurfboard (minus the sail) which i could borrow to go paddle out away from the shore a bit to get some perspective on the town, and to enjoy some quiet and a rare moment of being totally alone. i didn´t expect to do alot of "chilling at the beach" on this trip, i´m not seeking out the relaxing places...i feel like more than that i want to look for interesting cultural situations - but there are so many gorgeous places, and the people there are really nice, and it just seems to happen that once again i´m in a beautiful place and it´s pretty relaxing in spite of myself.
it might have something to do with hooking up with other people for travelling. most of them appear to be a bit more into chilling than me. i am ready to meet someone who´s doing something really adventurous and inspiring and going beyond the comfortable confines of our trusted lonely planet guidebook that binds us all together.

"YO SOY EL CHINGON"

i can make you
a bracelet, anklet, or longer thinglet
all with your (his/her) name on it
in 15 minutes, because
YO SOY EL CHINGON
it says so on the windshield of my ride

and if you thought NO FEAR was macho
well, I AM THE SHIT
makes NO FEAR look like
half-assed twelve year old braggadocio
and DIOS ES AMOR
the sissy efforts of a marin county fortysomething
on his way home from sunday morning dance meditation