photo by Amie


July 6, 2025
Feature Reader at 1st Sunday with Skyler.  
Really appreciated the audience today, they came from all over.  
I didn't take any photos today, but I was sent photos of the event, which I will share. 

Photo by Deborah

Photo by Deborah

Lots of my people read today.  Not everyone could, the audience was so big.  There was a lot of good writing.  LAVA is kind of fairyland.   I got to spend two days in a row experiencing really interesting work done by fellow artists.  And I felt physically well enough to enjoy it;  although by the time my reading time was up I thought my leg was going to give out on me.  I may have rushed a little too much towards the end, as well.  All in all it was a great weekend.  

photo by Deborah

photo by Deborah
















I do like reading with Skyler.  I wish I could post one of his pieces alongside one of mine.  We have very different voices, but we share a quality that joins our work together well.  And, he is a lovely human being.  

Photo by Dina



As You Sail Away

 

I’ve stopped asking for your hands

Not that I’ve stopped wanting

them to clutch on to my shoulders.

I’ve stopped wanting them to be mine,

you automatically knowing

where your thumb

fits to release that

tiresome ache on

either side of my spine.

 

I stopped assuming

that touch was a normal

part of our day

your arms, your mouth

they are slowly going away.

 

My life has come to another stop,

another time of change,

a time to embrace newness

accept that the small

handmade sailboat of my

life is unmoored,

anchor has been placed

on deck and it is drifting

away from me

with your hands,

                   your smile

                   your mouth

aboard a

paper sail

upon the lake in Central Park.

 

I want to ask you

for one more time

I want to ask you

for gentle warm up

and fire crescendo

and sweat and tears

in a final grasp,

 

But I know too well

I’d just want more.

I’d want to do it

again and again

until we do it right

when to grab

when to buck

when to hold you too tight

when to roll away.

 

I want to learn to

make you gasp

or smile as you

kiss my face.

 

But I know all of that

is on that tiny boat

moving away.

 

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