sonnet xi

I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair.
Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets.
Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day
I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps.

I hunger for your sleek laugh,
your hands the color of a savage harvest,
hunger for the pale stones of your fingernails.
I want to eat your skin like a whole almond.

I want to eat the sunbeam flaring in your lovely body,
the sovereign nose of your arrogant face.
I want to eat the fleeting shade of your lashes,

and I pace around hungry, sniffing the twilight,
hunting for you, for your hot heart,
like a puma in the barrens of Quitratúe.

-Pablo Neruda
trans. Stephen Tapscott

happiness

Am a bundle of mixed emotions, this evening. A grab-bag, if you will. It's not terribly pleasant and definitely not productive.

However, I came across this image and it immediately made me feel better:



Do yourself a favor and Google image search "tulip field."

And I have just discovered Otis Spann.

And in less than 24 hours I will be attending the inaugural milonga of the Tucson Tango Festival.

So things are quite happy, after all.

I am in need of a vacation.

One where I could smoke


(I don't smoke)


walk across a sun-filled courtyard


take a blue boat far out on an azure sea.

the tango shoe post, pt. 3

Hell yes.



Also, I've been wanting these for about 6 months, now, and have successfully resisted purchasing them. However, my willpower for not buying new tango shoes is growing thin, especially as the Tucson Tango Festival is happening next week, and I will be able to try on several pairs in my size.

One can never have too many Comme il Fauts . . . but one can have too many debts on one's credit card. Sigh.

things I like this week, vol. 25

Believe in the holy contour of life

. . .

Strange and ridiculous and lovely.

. . .

The moon wobbles.

. . .

How to Write: a memo from David Ogilvy, of which my favorite is no. 10:

If you want ACTION, don't write. Go and tell the guy what you want.

. . .

I have a soft spot for goldens. (Who doesn't?) This one is the aide to a boy with fetal alcohol syndrome. The article is worth reading for emotional impact alone.

. . .

The crash triggers the camera. More here.

. . .

The photographer's portfolio is impressive.

. . .

It is oddly intimate to watch someone else putting on her morning makeup.

. . .

Despite the old stereotypes, educated women have better sex, have longer, healthier lives, and are less likely to get divorced. Get working on those degrees, ladies.

. . .

I’ve often said that when I make a portrait what I’m really photographing is the space between the sitter and myself.

- Alec Soth

. . .

It's a quotation from The Little Prince. How strange to see something that in my head is feminine and soft and child-like on such a hard, masculine body. I appreciate the contrast.