Why Nicaragua?

It's whateveroneasks

Why Nicaragua

Guatemala may not exist but still
why Nicaragua

I close my eyes and
I feel her

Imagine
you are on a swing
made of wood and rope
shaped as a chair.
you are relaxed, happy
it is the most
comfortable swing in which you've
ever been
the wind off the lake blows through
banana leaves and palm fronds
[do you hear the ssshhhhhhhh]
and through your hair
you swing, gently
not spilling your rum
your feet slide over tiles and grout
tiles and grout
tiles and grout
smooth rough smooth rough smooth
ssssssshhhh
rough smooth rough smooth
THIS is Nicaragua

7 enero 2010

Sum Total -- July 2011

Am I the total of my parts

or the total of my years

or of my deeds

or my people

or my dreams

Cuz they don't all add up the same way

Am I the total of my totals?

12 septiembre 2002

For Charlie

A slow, flat wave
peeling gently toward the sand

or a fast, hollow tube
booming, throwing spray from its mouth

which will you be
my lover
mi novio
and which will you make of me?

____________________________________________________________________________________

Horses and Rainbows

To sleep
perhaps to dream?
Of horses and rainbows
Of olives and oysters
Of lovers gone

"For Charlie" -- Charlie Who?
Charlie-I'm-Gone-But
-You-Can't-Forget-Me
My Smile?
Dripping seawater across your breast
Brown taut skin
The Rio...

It's always the wrong ones that love us
Or the right ones that leave us.

You can't get homesick if you have no home
When home is where you park the car,
open the suitcase
turn on the fan.
The beach you walk,
the rain that falls on your shoulders.
The friend with whom you spend the night,
the curve of his back,
the smell of his skin.
Home.

But a home can't just walk away.
Or you'll get homesick.

Sunday, June 22, 2008: Me

I am a wife, a mother, a girl

I sometimes wonder how I got here

I am the master of my fate, the captain of my soul

I am a picker of buttercups and the big bullying daisies

I sleep flat on my back

I like to have my feet in sand

I should go to sleep

I should drink less wine

I have dreamed a dream of happiness. And live it

I love my mother and father and brother

I don't know where I'm going

I want to travel again

I always wish you were here

I live to eat

I love strawberries and cheese and butter and milk and lamb chops

I love the smell of the rain

I think people should be nicer to one another

I believe in peace

I hug trees

I heart the moon

I know the stars are always there

I don't spend enough time with me, alone

I acknowledge that I make mistakes

I adore my husband -- is he real?

I know that my daughters can't possibly be real

I talk to my cat. And he listens

I would love/to/fly. With wings of my own

I think surfing is really really hard

I love snowboarding. In powder

I really really really think it is wrong for bugs to land in my wine and then get into my mouth

I love me. Maybe not my thighs. But they have grown on me over the years

I am growing a great garden. And I'm proud of it

I hate gophers

I have the greatest pair of brown leather boots in the world

I wish it was still easy to find a good shoemaker

I hate people who don't let you merge

I wish my family lived closer

I miss running in the Village

I get really afraid on bridges

I cry when I think about how much my mother loves me

In the Winter Sunshine

Blonde curls and bright blue eyes

Sugar cookie smiles

Splashing in the winter sunshine

The little one comes swimming

Really just toe tipping

Upturned nose at the water-top

“Look out baby!

I’m jumping!

I’m swimming!”

Bubbles and wild hazel eyes

A mama’s sure hands 

Coughs and tears in the slanted sunshine

“You alright baby!

You come jump and swim with me”

Together in the winter sunshine.

marlynmarincas, 3/3/08

stuck in the six o'clock hour

2 March 2010, Quintana Roo

When you open your eyes and your arms
your heart grows.

Tribute 1

To Begin an Even Knowing: 

Michael Theune 

Accept rocks. Or whatever touches them. 

Remember depth. 

Collect fish. 

Trust echoes: the pulse from your level hand, 

the wave through wire. 

Draw a map of heaven. Draw the sun. Say "Burn." 

Memorise your country's stars. 

Know you would be lost in half the world. 

Set your story on fire. 

Consider what this world has not been, 

your hands folded on the edges of this page. 

Count the universes you missed 

because you spoke the right word. 

Follow children's voices. Define green. 

Mean purple. 

Begin "Amen." 

June 23, 2011

What really matters

I fell in love with you
I got in my car and drove away
with you
I chose to spend my life
 with you

You are not the first person I ever loved
But you can try to be the last

March 5, 2009

A Song For My Daughter
Open your arms wide, girl.
Make them go around.
Hold your dog, hold your cat,
Hold your sister too.
Open them big.
Make them go around.

Open your arms wide, girl.
Make them go around.
Hold your Mama, hold you Dad,
Hold your Gramma too.
Open them big.
Make them go around.

Open your arms wide, girl.
Make them go around.
Hold your home, hold your town,
Hold your country too.
Open them big.
Make them go around.

Open your arms wide, girl.
Make them go around.
Hold the forest, hold the sea,
Hold the desert too.
Open them big.
Make them go around.

Open your arms wide, girl.
Make them go around.
Hold the Earth, hold the Sky,
Hold all the stars too.
Open them big.
Make them go around.

Open your arms wide, girl.
Make them go around.
Hold my heart, hold your dreams,
Hold all the hope there is.
Open them big, girl.
Make them go around.
Marlyn Marincas, March 5, 2009

September 2009 -- Karen

I'm remembering a friend

with ballpoint blue eyes

who ran like the wind

I'd set her blocks

and watch her go

I wanted to run 

like she did

but I was too slow

No, I didn't want to run

I wasn't slow

I just liked to jump instead

Jumping was playing

Easy and fun

I wonder if that's how

she felt

about running.

Sept '09/June '11

July 2009 - Little Girl Sad

Little girl sad

Little girl cry

Little girl did not hold tight

A balloon on the end

of a string is

a wonderful thing

Balloon so bright

Balloon so light

Little girl did not hold tight

Orange over green

orange through blue

Fly ballooon fly

And, little girl cry

Next time

Hold tight.

July 2009

July 2009 - The Orange Cat

The orange cat sleeps

The baby sleeps

The mama sleeps

The stars hum

The night blurs

The mama dreams

The moon shines

The creek slides

The baby dreams

The house creeks

The mouse squeeks

The orange cat dreams

July 2009

July 2009 - Tempo

Tempo tempo

Tiempo

Le temps

The time

The weather

Blue blue

Green

White white white

Rain

Breathe in

Breathe out

In

Out

Tempo tempo

July 2009

July 2009 -- Tin Roof

Tin Roof

I'd like to have

a house with a tin roof

I'd paint it blue.

If I got tired

of my blue roof

I could paint it red.

In the front

I'd have a meadow of flowers

Out back, a creek

Running through.

I'd like to have 

a house with a tin roof

I'd paint it blue.

On the bed

I'd have an old woolen quilt.

On the porch

a rocker I'd buy new.

I'd like to have

 a house with a tin roof

I'd paint it blue.

In the morning

I'd bathe in the cool creek.

In the evening

[among the flowers]

I'd kiss you.

I'd like to have

a house with a tin roof

I'd paint blue.

If I tired

of my blue roof

I could paint it green.

July/August 2009

June 9, 2011

garden path

Let me lead you down my garden path

And tell you tales of love and wrath...

Walk with me while sunlight soothes

And tell me all your pithy truths

Did you dream of wealth and power

and ignore the dew on fragile flowers

Or did you rest on bended knee

and understand the strength of trees

Did you breathe the fresh green air

and lead with heart without care

Or sell your soul to Mr. Man

and then go sell his corporate plan 

Where do you stand, and lie your head?

Where Is your place?

What will they say of you when you are dead?

Does your mirror like your face?

I have no tales of wrath to tell

Least not any you know not well

I leave my anger by the way 

and try to smile upon the day

My world hasn't space for greed

Instead it calls me to sprinkle seed

For here in my tangled garden

love and hope and joy and peace

have won.

for photographs that accompany these thoughts click here.

June 10, 2011

The earth breathes

The soil, the rock

the dirt

they breathe

The earth sighs

and growls

and grumbles

and spews

The earth whispers

and sighs

and dances

and flies

The earth roots your heart

and steadies your feet

and nourishes your mind

and rests your soul

The earth breathes

Wherefore art this

Why Bubbles and Dirt?

Why a new blog?   While I have my family/home/garden blog and my travel blog I wanted to dedicate something to my writing, specifically, to my poetry.  I wanted to create a space in my own mind where I was "just writing" and to create a space in my mind it sometimes helps to create a space on a "page".  This is that page.  I will for sure often link back to the other blogs because my writing does not happen in a vacuum, it is part and parcel of that family, home, and garden and our travels and is fueled by them.

Why bubbles and dirt?   Bubbles represent the ephemeral, fleeting, floating aspects of life.  They are wild and free.  Dreamy, transient, transparent.     Dirt is that which grounds us, roots us.  Holds us steady and strong.  It nurtures our souls, strengthens our hearts, soothes our minds.  

With our roots firmly in the soil we are free to dream, without fear of getting lost.   We all need bubbles and dirt.