1130 Miles: 18 Days: Approach

Approach Originally uploaded by vajra.

beginning with questions where or

the tilt of your head

maps

the implacable sun

one foot in front

the radio next door

moving closer to

you

1130 Miles: Day 17

Outside, dish licked clean
dry. Inside we line up for water,
lemonade, iced coffees,
fairy sized cups of free sips.

1130 Miles: 17 Day: Joy

Joy Originally uploaded by vajra.

where there is joy

I am

in the city of

I am

near you

I am

longing to see you

I am turning toward home

I

1130 Miles: Day 16

Amarillo

Ten Cadillacs planted
nose first in Texas dirt
Hot pink spray and
blueberry

Hubcaps become regal clown hats
Undercarriage graffiti speaks
layers and layers of first names

No rain can touch this.

1130 Miles: 16th Day: Pressing

1130 Miles: 16th Day: Pressing
Originally uploaded by vajra.

heat pressing
into
my temples
like stones pressing
each ache and knot
out of me
the pattern of
pressing

1130 Miles: Day 15: Camp Circus

A hand with a camera
reaches in to snap
this Charlie Chaplin cast
where one father, one son
look straight on;
in the background
another boy in red
scales a rope swing.

1130 Miles: 15 or so: Outside

outside
the sun shines
outside
we drink espresso
outside
we smell the roses
outside
we pet the dogs
outside
we smile at babies
outside
we hold hands
outside
we know it's summer
outside

1130 Miles:: 14th Day: And A Day Late

First man singing

about dysfunctional

mystics

or Tibet

and the downhome

backbreaking

soulwrenching

blues

And two little

girls

are

spinning

1130 Miles: 13th Day: Morning Coffee In the Afternoon

Morning Coffee In the Afternoon

Originally uploaded by vajra.

sitting in the café

new paintings on the wall

new barrista at the counter

sun shining

iced coffee deliciously melting

the tiny ice cubes

everything happy warm busy

except me

1130: 13th Day

How many hands once leveraged this door?
How many enchanted gardens or diningrooms
behind the shadow key hole winking?

No one coming or going now;
when I arrive the handle shows only rust --
her paint chipping away to show
miniature craters or generations of continental drift.

1130 Miles: Day 12 or 13

This courtyard, replanted for generations,
perhaps never saw

such evergreen window frames.

This rick rack border of rock reminds me of river.

Across the lawn the wheels of wagon-trains
retire in the shade.

1130 Miles: 12th Day: Just A Fence

Just A Fence Originally uploaded by vajra.

leaning right and left

fragile equilibrium

still holding on

1130 Miles: X11: Trying To Be Blue

Trying To Be Blue Originally uploaded by vajra.

no blues too low

to sing

no sorrow too deep

to write

no day so glorious as

today

1130 Miles: Day 10

Faces on the wall, adjacent to the night
dining with women who are being watched
by women. We in the flesh --
one teacher, another
moving away from us &
you on the bench where I drape my arm
up and behind you --
No shawl, no shell, all black and white --
etched in

1130 Miles: 10th Day: Simplicity

after the first flush

of roses wanes

and the agapanthus slowly unfurls

Egyptian wonder

there is always a dandelion

cheerful

or ethereal

but there

1130 Miles: Week 9: Hill Blocks View

What view but
these southern hills
I pull over
to follow directions

1130 Miles: 9th Day: Starlight

Starlight Originally uploaded by vajra.

not only night reveals the glory

of stars this too has

its dark light

listen

the scent of jasmine

1130 Miles: Day 8: Home

 

Home on the grass, we are

parents at loose ends
our daughter in the air for the east
where it is raining in the city of little sleep

1130 Miles: 8thDay: Tequila Blues

Tequila Blues Originally uploaded by vajra.

spending days and hours

searching

for the precise shade

blue

like the Sandia

or Sangre

which are named

sweet summer watermelon

or blood of Christ

yet call me most often

like frozen lakes

or lupine

or sky
sky blue
as
blue
as blue
in my mind's
eye

1130 Miles: Day 7

Once a school that spoke
now there is no one within and no
ceiling sky falls in instead and educates
stray trees shoots, exposed adobe, abandoned metal

1130 Miles: X7: Empty

Empty Originally uploaded by vajra.

spending time

with monks in silence

exquisite

holiday

no phones

no conversation

nothing

to do

except be

today’s expanse of floor

bare walls

furnishing

absent

noise gone

the space of silence

the opening

of time

1130 Miles: Day 6: Day Almost Passed

Day almost passed by me, but then driving home in light evening rain
There was the day's forever party hat, upside down pink cup of a child lost
or announcement of tomorrow? Rebar strung with last season's pretend
pine garland and yellow plastic roses. Hello.

1130 miles: Day 6: Breathing Room

Finding space and time

which is always spacious when

there is enough it is always

difficult to find or to see that

the space left in the cup

has meaning leaving

as it does

room

to catch my

breath

1130 Miles: Day 5: Tree Full of Bees

Tree Full of Bees

As I walk past and skirt the hum
morning sun as my armor, charmed
The icing tree tricks me into believing honeysuckle

11130 Miles: Day 5: White

Gerbera Daisies and Tulips, #3 Originally uploaded by vajra.

on waking no thing

caught my eye

and mind asked tumblers

or brushes

the morning news

later paper bag with iris

or traffic on Mt. Diablo

or later still Mt. Fugi and Mt. Diablo

juxtaposed

moment after asking and thinking

of you finally hurrying into the store

white

tulips and daisies

to rush the beauty

and bring it to you

1130 Miles: Fourth Day: The Morning Rose

The Morning Rose Originally uploaded by vajra.

the morning rose

still shaded from the sun

bends on the stem

heavy with petals

fragrance

the weight of last night's dew

facing West I bow as if to kiss

its hem

11130 Miles: 3d Day

And when I dress myself I see
the colors of this Southwestern earth

cottonwood gnarls and
perennial greens that

mimic my eyes in desert light

Bowl Of Roses Originally uploaded by vajra.

this bowl of roses

picked yesterday

lush and full

they are called "old-fashioned"

I will dress myself in petals

wear my hair pinned up

be generous and good

and be "old-fashioned,"too

1130 Miles: Friday Morning, #2: Other's Doors

Others’ Doors

Recently supplanted I steal looks
        toward other peoples’ doors
House lawns landscaped with rusty headboards
Turquoise trucks planted with nothing inside them
Red moving sign sales on porches
                announce another’s launch

Returning home I enter through the garage
    Bend to weed outside a while
        as birds make their quick way toward a small barn feeder.

1130 Miles: 2d Day: Unmade

if there were a way to unmake yesterday poke and smooth and straighten until those memories were as innocuous as an unused hospital room clean blank and sterile