Nobody

Nobody writes like Marlyn writes
nobody dreams like marlyn dreams
but if you come with Me
i can show you how it feels

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