bold as love.

jackthemuse @ 2008-01-22T17:24:00

2008-01-22T23:00:31Z

today as we were leaving this great cuban restaurant, this man was asking for change and i when gave him the other half of my sandwich, he gave me a wish that i'd have my next wish granted.

maybe that will get me to brazil.

last night the lady and i went to visit some family i have in fort lauderdale and it was so pleasant. unexpectedly so. actually it was way groovy. and it included indian food. is a shame i like them more than my more immediate family.

on saturday it was the haitian independence festival, and we went this haitian bookstore that i guess yanvalou went to a while back which was divine. then we had the chows at tap tap and there was great live music and also this art gallery filled with art from by this man from haiti who visits the restaurant every so often.

i think we saw music on friday night. i'm not sure. also i think thursday capped off our office season three marathon. i'm actually currently having withdrawls. is somewhat sad, really.

ps cuban eXpresso is the shit.

LOVE.

jim + pam.

2008-01-16T14:01:56Z

on monday our percolator finally succeeded in grossing us out- we bought it for like $3.65 at the grocery down the street, but we've been using it probably three times a day since, and now we just can't clean it well enough anymore. there is this awful metallic thing going on, and we just can't get rid of the steely aftertaste. we tried "seasoning" it with this brew of baking soda and water ridiculousness, but it just isn't salvageable. luckily the lady and i both have our swank jesus-inspired gift cards to the bucks to get us through these hard times.

so in our down moments in the eve jordan has been educating me in the ways of the office, us. i understand now friends. its kind of a ramshackle getting up-to-speed, but now i've watched a couple handfuls of episodes from season 2, and we're working straight through season three. its just such this emotional rollercoaster, guys. (i don't want to hear it.)

also i had this revelation last night about hillary.
i mean, yeah.

weekend.

2008-01-16T13:51:43Z

saturday was:

a4l. the not-for-profit that we've been working with was holding a professional development course from 8 to 4. it was nice to help out, and to see older, set-in-their-ways educators of 2-6 year-olds bend their minds a little.

artwalk. every second saturday for the last three years or so the city's design and wynwood districts sponsor this enormous artwalk. it is huge, it is sponsored by all the classy wine and liquor companies, so the spirits are free-flowing, and there is so much contemporary art it is ridiculous. whats so neat about it though is that its become this scene, and even though it happens every month, it was probably about as well attended as the once-yearly solstice fair in fremont. and as sad as that commentary is, kudos to miami for getting it right and supporting its art scene.

elastic bond. on friday we met this cuban/brazilian drummer named kenneth metzker, who is involved with arts for learning on the side as a teacher. he was great and after hearing what we were about, recommended to us this slew of venues that had the great tunes (which is super useful because there are so many here! miami how are you so kind to your artists?!). he told us about this band that he's worked with in the past and who are all his good friends, and said that if we only saw one group while we were here, to see them, and it was full worth it. they were so great. as was the venue. we stayed until past 2:30 for both of their sets, but before we left we went to chat it up with their keys and beats gent, and while i only had it slated to ask them to think about coming to boston, we walked away with a cd and some hugs. it was nice. yay for holding jobs at radio stations.

sunday was:

beach. all day. okay, not all day. also, on our street there was this three king's parade, and later on a jazz festival in this hip neighborhood that we'd never explored before.

new friends, new connections.

2008-01-13T21:51:09Z

just,

more later but,

http://www.myspace.com/theelasticbond

i could just lick his face.

2008-01-11T22:20:34Z

so today the beautiful souls at our little not-for-profit (more on that later) decided to take us along on an office outing.

ended up that it was to the WLRN -- miami's npr affiliate -- studio where the featured artist of the month, this epic blues diva Juanita Dixon, performed live for us and about fifteen other people. and of course everyone out there in radioland.

its just funny because i grew up listening to this kind of thing on the radio and getting lost in the subsequent daydreams. and then it was real.

its just funny because this city has been nothing but magical. hmm.

dinner date tonight with this haitian/brazilian drummer.
not quite sure what to expect. probably just magic.

lupe.

2008-01-10T22:53:56Z

every morning jordan and i fire up our tiny gas stove to heat our percolator. actually, we are getting our coffee making down to a science. (a lot of sugar, a lot of cuba.)

today, we finished off our matchbook with which we've been using to light said stove; now la virgen will be aiding us in our coffee preparation each day.

i wish she would aid me in writing this vexing paper.
i think i just love her too much to feel that i have any authority to write on her.

jordan and i are going to church on sunday.

to coax the sugar,

2008-01-10T04:36:38Z

yesterday i was sitting cross-legged on this bench in our wee backyard and i was reading poems by one Aracelis Girmay that a certain cesky gave to me. i could not make it very far through the anthology, but before the words were too difficult for my heart i read this poem.

at the time, in the yard behind us, this older cuban fellow was whistling a tune woven in and out of a sweet lyric here and there while he was washing this great antique robin's-egg-blue automobile. in my mind it was fitting. in my mind i play the upright at the social club.

Ode to the Watermelon

It is June.
At El TaContento near 17th,
the cook slices clean
through the belly of a watermelon,
Sandía, día santo!
& honey bees
grown in glistening temples
dance away from their sugary hives,
ants, in lines,
beetles, toward your red,
(if you are east, they are going east)
over & over,
toward your worldly luscious,
blushed fruit freckled with seeds.

Roadside, my obtuse pleasure,
under strings of lights,
a printed skirt, in grocery barrels,
above park grasses on Sunday afternoon
to the moan & dolorous moan
of swings.

Ripe conjugationer of water & sun,
your opening calls
even the birds to land.
& in Palestine,
where it is a crime to wave
the flag of Palestine in Palestine,
watermelon halves are raised
against Israeli troops
for the red, black, white, green
of Palestine. Forever,

I love you your color hemmed
by rind. The blaring juke & wet of it.
Black seeds star red immense
as poppy fields,
white to outsing jasmine.
Again, all that green.

Sandía, día santo,
summer’s holy earthly,
bandera of the ground,
language of fields,
even under a blade you swing
your quiet scent
in the pendulum of any gale.
Men bow their heads, open-mouthed,
to coax the sugar
from beneath your workdress.
Women lift you
to their teeth.
Sandía, día santo,
yours is a sweetness
to outlast slaughter:
Tongues will lose themselves inside you,
scattering seeds. All over,
the land will hum
with your wild,
raucous blooming.

from Teeth (Curbstone Press, 2007).

lizard and bee + monkey:

2008-01-10T04:20:58Z

i mean, hello.

what is this.
i just miss you. what the hell man.

we drank the mcmennamins treat last night in your honor, just saying. and tonight we uncorked the delish coffee wine and mingled and sipped on our tiny front porch in little havana as the sun set down.

its funny because on the east coast the sun hides behind the world at eventime. kind of ridiculous i guess that i never made the connection, but then again i've never been looking for a sunset at a beach on this coast. i like that we get it on the left side.

i think it is about seventy-eight degrees outside (at seven) and i could not be more thrilled. its almost obscene, really. when the lady and i ventured out on the first morning, i almost felt healthier just being in the sunlight. it is just so enlivening. sometimes i try to deny how much i and my body love the sun when i dream of my life that will be lived out in no place other than the fine pacific northwest, but really it cannot be done. i will just need to swim in this clear green sea and to drink up these sunrises while i've the chance.