Return/al

In the cool dust
of the round room,
I return

Home is the place
that I am.
That I am with
the Grandmothers
of ten thousand moons.

We work
with our hands
and sit
near the ground.
We build fires
and grind corn.
We grab snakes
and roast them.

Our bricks, sun-dried,
are strong
and lasting,
forming perfect circles,
portals for smoky light shafts,
ladders to the other World.

Dust gathers
and scatters,
but I remain.

My father walks away,
testing my will.
He is surprised at
my resolve
and doesn't understand
that, or how,
I know
where
I belong.

Up the smooth-worn
ladder, in the
earthen room,
closer to today
than before
I returned.

~MH, 11/2007

Viking Ship, Interstate 70, 1976

We are alone except
for snake eyes beaming by
every twenty minutes or hour.
their wakes invisibly mingling
with ours, like molecular
conversations

Our cocoon floats,
escorted by the moon,
our private spotlight,
as mountains,
trees, and deserts fly by
at varying quicknesses

The sky opens wide
Lunar landscape beside us,
and there: a Viking ship
frozen on sandy seas
Stained luminous
in moonlight, and dwarfed
by steep cliffs and
cascading foothills,
skirted by a ribbon of black
highway snaking off to meet
the invisible horizon
and circle the moon

Derelict and noble
Otherworldly, if not
for its dependability
This ship, with hubcaps
for shields,
in a waterless land,
a fixed mark,
On the trip to my parent’s
parents’ house,
And my first
taste of wonder
at four

~MH, 2004

Has it really been April since I've posted?

hmmm... It's not easy being a blogger. People that say it's too easy don't know what they're talking about. There are all of these obstacles and intervening factors. My universe conspires to keep me from posting. Perhaps the only things working in my favor are being alone on a Friday night, friends and mate either far away or occupied. Good music helps. Perhaps that's why I haven't posted in so very long. I inadvertently deleted more than half of my tunes from Napster lite. Yes. I use Napster. I carry the torch of the defeated file-sharing mastermind. But I am not a subscriber because that's a scam. I buy probably 10 excellent tunes a month for $.99 per track and then accidentally delete them. So that when I finally get around to emailing tech support 6 months later, and discovering how to recover them, I can have that glorious experience of being reunited with my prodigal tunes. It is a really nice thing to appreciate your own music and musical taste after a hiatus. It's like looking in the mirror and liking what you see. It's recognition in the purest sense. Here's a sampling of what I'm listening to today:

Passion Sources (produced by Peter Gabriel and inspiration for soundtrack for "The Last Temptation of Christ")
eccodek - "In this Drum a Secret"
Esoin - Working in my Sleep Clothes (whole album)
Angie Stone - "I want to Thank You"
Marianne Solivan - everything she sings and how she sings it is great - totally hot ticket
Cassandra Wilson - "Go to Mexico"
Dawn Penn - "You Don't Love Me"
Handsome Boy Modeling School - "I've been thinking" (featuring Cat Power)
Jeff Buckley's rendition of "Strange Fruit"
Marvin Gaye - What's Goin' On (whole album)
Medeski, Martin + Wood's rendition of "Hey Joe"
Nina Simone - "Come Ye"
Nina Simone - "Feelin' Good"
Norah Jones - "I've got to see you again"
The Roots - "Thought is Like Freestyle"
Carmen Maureira - "Besame Mucho"
Junior Walker and the All-Stars - "Cleo's Mood"
Nouvelle Vague's version of "Ever Fallen in Love?"
Gnarls Barkley - "Crazy" (gotta succumb to the top 40 once in a while, you know)
Gotan Project - "El Capitalismo"
Gotan Project - "Lunatico"
Gotan Project - "Mi Confesion"
Alice Coltrane - "Journey in Satchidananda"
Femi Kuti - "Let's Start"
Caterina Valente - "Malaguena"