notes from sri lanka

I'm staying with my friend in Colombo. The scene here would have been difficult for me to imagine 7 days ago. Gates, cylinders of barbed wire, uniformed guards and security cameras. Outside this area is a neighborhood constructed from brick and aluminum. It's quite obvious that Colombo is not Portland. But, in addition to all this, there are other differences. And these reminders cut my friend in a place that barbed wire never could:

"When I sneeze here, no one says anything."
"The doors into buildings open the wrong way."
"When you are going up staircases (or down) every step is a different size!"

saying goodbye in Taipei

I'm in Taipei. Asia. But, I'm still saying goodbye to the life I walked away from.
The words are reverberating inside my organs, bones and tissues.
I know the next iteration of my portland life will be different. I want to capture these emotions as they play in my mind right now. At 27, standing in front of an Internet kiosk at gate A8, 2 hours into my 10-hour-layover, waiting for the Colombo skyline to appear in the distance:

Tabor wraps me in the folds of her womb
I slide through her
Recalling the misty morning top
and the dim dusk light

drifting

10 ft above my portland room
i sit
weather-worn boards lie parallel with my calves
and the tissue paper lamplight from my friend's room shines out
into this peaceful portland night
"i'm going to fight for the right to release myself"
sing tegan and sara
"here i am"
yes
here
i
am
so many tones have drifted from my soul during these final hours
saying goodbye to portland's familiar faces
or that 50m stretch on tabor that changes each moment i visit
nodding farewell to the blue house on madison street
to tissue paper light
and weather-worn boards
cascara berries bleed onto the white terry cloth softness where my lips once caressed another's
sunday night will find me walking away
books in hand
and heart ready
for what the world has to show
but tonight
i'm drifting
lost in the memories of so many years

quote from a friend

"Before college, I also had a basketful of expectations. They were upturned, found, lost, and recreated."
Lia O'Slemons

to co-exist

"viewing many fish, birds and flora -- everyone is co-existing."

my dad sent this line to me in a postcard. in just a few words, he summed up my wish for our species.