mga alaala
Its 2014, Happy New Year. An unfolding ever more or so it seems.....never would i think a number that slowly climbs depicting "time" would not matter to me. Lest fertility. The beauty of woman. The anxiety of the clock has fallen away, further regardless. A great sign. A funny game. I remember wearing a watch. now I wear my telephone. I look at my old watches, all that I have loved and worn for years..mostly found at a thrift store, or flea market in another part of the world.....a momento of sorts from another time & place.....&when I put it on for its nostalgia & for its softness, I end up taking it off & throwing it back in the drawer. Now they are a small collection. souvenirs. "Place Field Green"  is up for bid at paddle8.com/auctions/filipinoamericanmuseum . Its a smaller version (it stands @ 4ftx2.5ft the actuals are 6ftx4ft). The work sold will benefit the women and children of the Women's Refugee Commission in Samar, Philippines. It is exciting to know there is ongoing support for the survivors of Typhoon Yolanda. It is the home and birth place of my parents...& I can say for myself, there is no other place in the world where I feel more at home. More myself.....my skin relaxes there. Always in the first few days..well, lets start with the first few hours. The lovely faces, the kind eyes, the soft voices, the insane humor, the crazy jetlag, the smells. The heat. The accents. that is when I start to land. Then.......The going to the sea. The sleeping. the deep deep deep deep sleeping. The waking up in the middle of the night, to the ocean, lapping at the sandy shore, the jetlag & nyc sludge shedding off of your skin. How light you feel. How salty the air. How quiet. The writing done. The yellow light of the bamboo homemade lamp, the mosquito net, the bat house. the silence. the happiness. the sleepy grin. the thankfulness for your parents being born in such a place. The Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...............................................The heaviness. of the head. of the body. no clocks. the bright sun. the 3pm of the next day, the friends' laugh with you at you, tell you to kumain ka na and to just go back to sleep na .........its worth it. it'll take a few days. you try to deny it but its more than true. the fish. the vinegar. the rice. the swim out to the raft. the silence underwater. my bbblobbby unfit body that i are carry from the city. the first strokes in the water. the pure joy. the city feet unaccustomed to being bare. The feeling of the muscles again, The mimicking the starfish underwater. the giggles. the snorting up salty water too fast. the laying on your back in the sun against a bamboo raft tied with string. the sun. the sip of san miguel light,  the deep deep deep deep deep deep the very deep sleep. Repeat. next thing you know you are on another little propeller plane to another island. awake. bright. INSPIRED.
