Your Fingers Taste Like Peaches

I don't know if you watch Atlanta or not, but you should. It's pretty brilliant- especially the second season. It makes me a tiny bit irrationally "home"sick for when I used to live there. References to Little Five Points, Decatur, DeKalb County, all of it.

It reminds me of my mentor CJ (I'll never forget the rides in her red Nissan truck) and all of the things I learned from her that stick with me to this day.  It reminds me of the Freaknik pirate radio station that introduced me to a song that is burned into my brain to this day.  It reminds me of babies doing the Bankhead Bounce and it reminds me of how fucking contagious that dance was. It reminds me of the woman that used to run the domestic violence support group who had done five years for killing her husband and how much I admired how she forked out the truth. It reminds me of Rhonda and how I wonder how she's doing now after cracking me up for so long while we dated. It reminds me of the earring of two intersecting women's symbols that I found of hers in my bed. (That lesbian symbol used to haunt the fuck out of me. Tattoos, earrings...you  name it. Like some Indigo Girls Poltergeist or some shit.) It reminds me of hot boiled peanuts and the afternoons Diane and I would be out in the shed sorting clothes and laughing until we couldn't breathe.  It reminds me that, no matter what it's like now, I always thought that MARTA was a pretty solid transportation system. But that, my friends, was coming from the Detroit metro area.

Here's a simple interaction between two characters from the show that touched me:


person one (sarcastically):  I love how you send all of your important mail to my house.

person two: Yeah. That's love. I trust you.

person one: (smiles and laughs)



be well; be loved,

k.

(image: Txema Yeste via hotparade tumblr)

Reflecting Skin, or, What is it That You See When Your Eyes Rest Upon Me?

Tonight is the night.  The full moon and rituals associated with what you want to keep, covet, protect - and what you want to sever ties with.

Candles and incense and truth within the heart.

If you don't lie, there is nothing you have to remember.

Some strings are the easiest to keep tied tightly, and some are the easiest to sever.

Some strings are more difficult to keep tied tightly, but there is too much truth and family within the connection for it to be one that hits a cutting room floor.

(pause)

I had a conversation with someone last night and face to face that has been about eight months in the making.

I am ready to let it go.

I may love wearing silver with abandon,

but I will not wear your mirrors.




From within a circle of candles and a pool of smoke,


k.
(title: The name of a weird vampire film I was obsessed with, for years.)
(image: I have used this image before, but, how can I not? It is a self portrait by Egon Schiele as St. Sebastian)

A Toast to Personal History

One of the things that makes me feel proud are the people in my life.  These friends of mine who I have had for decades now who have always been friends and sometimes been lovers, who are connected by love to each other.

What I mean by this is that, over the years, friends have made a point to meet each other for the first time, even in my absence. This has happened in LA, in Detroit, in Olympia, in Seattle, in Columbus, in Portland, and now again in Brooklyn.  This last meeting has been especially important because the two people would hear about each other from me for over ten years. 

When these meetings happen, I ask that the friends take a photograph and send it to me.  They usually oblige.  The photographs themselves are gorgeous:  Two people standing together with the stance of people who have just met, yet have known each other for years. Looking at the camera, they are looking out to me.  To show me. To say "HEY! This person is rad we both think you are rad and here we are standing in some random bar/wedding/street corner/conference and wanting you to know that you are important to us and that we do and will end up being important to each other for reasons that both do and do not include you."

I love it.

It is beautiful.

Sometimes, when life feels a bit chaotic, I lose sight of the depth and interconnectedness of the people I love and the people who love me.  But I am always reminded.  When it matters most,  I am always reminded.

Here is to seeing the threads of those strong connections a bit brighter these next few days and months and years.

It will always go to prove that nothing is stronger than the love that is built. Piece by piece. Day by day. Conversation by conversation. Silence by silence. Time by time. Presence by presence. 

I love you.  

Thank you for being a part of what builds me, and what keeps me shining and together.

All my love,

k.

(photo: Marie Consindas ; from an older entry of Yvonne Constance tumblr)