dry skin in the winter time

skin, dry, eyes, hardened, eyes, closed, heart, beat

Observations at the airport

Hands holding rectangles
Thumbs silently slide against glass
Heads pitched down
Eyes absorbing
Ears are covered with foam circles held together by a plastic headband
Tap tap on glass
Look up look down
Tap tap tap

Caffe Med is Closed

It's hard to hear that Caffe Med is closed. It was a place in Berkeley I could go alone and feel comfortable. Nothing about it was polished or clean, which was the relief I got from it. Every surface of every thing and person there was etched and scratched and stained so that there was texture. The floors had a faint smell of being always dirty, like an olfactory history for the subconscious side. And so a person never felt judged there and could just write or sit or talk without needing to examine their self worth. Any unwanted person could enter and stay. The cookies were a dollar. And a pancake was a dollar in the year 2016. Caffe Med was where I wrote most my academic work, and so I'm glad I got to be there and benefit from its magic, have it in memory.

division

privilege exercised with weightless blindfolds
never knowing the not having
or having forgotten

on the other side

remembering loss
always knowing loss
and never taking the painful gains for granted

paints, plants, cats

TEXTURES from Nayarit