elusive

my beautiful busy friend is the most generous person i know, but seeing her is harder than seeing the pope naked

climax/anti-climax

ok, so after all that, i got the keys to my flat finally. ain't homeless no more. i live in an estate in hackney. i have neighbours that listen to jamaican music in the sun. i am close to the best argentinian restaurant in london. i have a room to put my sister in when she comes to visit. however, there was noone there to drink the complimentary champagne with, and i nearly chucked the keys down my new toilet bowl.

improvement

he said today i am 79 years young. she listened to the cliche and didn't flinch. he'd been carrying a case of water around ever since she'd met him, and she hadn't had the inclination to ask why and wasn't about to do it. he pulled out a red fish from the case and put it i his mouth. it's a birthday fish, he said. it will make me grow to 6 feet tall, which is a birthday wish i've been keeping for just this occassion. in spite of herself, she was touched by this gesture. she had developed a painful back ever since she'd join him in his travels, for stooping to hear what his short-ass mouth would say. some days he was the most interesting man she knew, and the water case would produce lobster for them to eat. other days there was only jelly-fish and staid conversations. it wasn't a boring life, even if there were times when they both had to run away to escape the intense desire to tear each other's hair out. still, 79 years was a long time, long enough, she thought, so she produced an axe, cut his head off and ate him there and then.

mnemonic, mnemonic, mnemonic, mnemonic...

a mnemonic is a form of words or letters that assists the memory. for example, the initial letters of the mnemonic Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain give the order of the colours in a rainbow. now that is all very well, but it gives us absolutely no clue why i should wake up at 5am in the morning repeating this word over and over like a mantra.

in your inbox

there are things you expected. there are things you didn't expect. there aren't things you expected. but mostly there is spam.

a japi bersdei tu mi

old father thames kept me company all day, but he didn't keep the nettles from biting my ankles when i went down to say hello

remains

he said you look like you still have sea-salt on your skin and she would have let him have a taste only someone else is holding the knife and fork right now...

once someone said to me

that when people give each other songs, they ALWAYS choose songs to convey meanings. i'm not sure if they're right or wrong, but here is one i like and the gig was fab too



herman dune

homecoming

beautiful london blue sky
flat sorted out
concerts on the go
birthday lunch and dinner
sister to look forward to

note to self

live life like your own romantic hero!

trigueña

corn coloured, i am.

telling

a man looks deep into my eyes and tells me my future. and you may be in it.

converted!

neruda

me gustas cuando callas, porque estas como ausente

concession

how much more agreeable is poetry wrapped in a pair of blue eyes

havana to trinidad

bite. lick. kiss. trace. press. slide. cup. squeeze. suck.

poetry

the artist tells me in improvised verse of his love for me, of my wholesomeness, of my beauty. in the gallery, he pushes my hand over his painting, and traces the countour in a cheap biro from his breast pocket. i am now art. i am artful. a hidden muse. a false goddess.

rain, again.

100_5334.JPG
Originally uploaded by ladelentes.

a girl walks down the malecon. waves crash over the ocean wall splashing seaweed and salt over the sidewalk. the girl's shoe, soaked inside, slips off every third step. an old man sits looking out to sea, holding something in his hands. the girl's skirt is drenched in water, clinging to her legs. her shoe lags behind every third step. the man offers the girl his erect penis like a flag, toothless grin flashing from behind a dirty beard. the girl walks on. the waves crash over the ocean wall. the shoe slips off every third step.

decay

havana is crumbling and i want to be a trillionaire, to gather it in my arms and pamper it back to glorious health

world traveller...my arse!

i hope someone out there is looking forward to a ton of cuban cigars, cos i've already been guilted into buying a box. paranoia and suspicion levels stratospheric. havana very pretty, though.

wires

once upon a time there was a girl who used to chat on the phone to her friends a hell of a lot. at this time, the telephone lines were a little bit more primitive than they are now. the phones had dials, not buttons, and the lines would get crossed all the time. one day the girl was chatting to her girlfriend when a couple of male voices came online. clear as water. the girls chat to the boys. a little bit of flirting. nothing much. hang up again. this happened again quite a few times, always the same guys. so of course, the hopeless romantic that this girl was starts thinking about destiny and fate and all that, and exchanges numbers with one of the guys. late at night he talks to her. in the darkness of her room. whispering in her ear over the line. rafael has a problem with dope. rafael plays in a band. rafael is clearly the man for this girl.

pink

flamingos in lago nimez in calafate. sunset in tacuarembo. a waiter in la blanqueada walking into a dirty conversation. the inside of my new shoes. sunrise in miami airport.

buenos aires midnight

internal courtyard. pouring rain. rain pouring down the walls. back against a window sill. single drop running down a breast. hand pressing against the small of a back. water running down the contour of a spine. fingernails digging into shoulder flesh. arms round a neck. eyes closed. rain pouring down. down the walls.

panic

rain coming down, thunder raging, a wet woman walks on the grass, smoking a wet cigarette, looking out to the black horizon.

house rules

find yourself an activity, a place, or a sense of purpose. failing that find yourself a quiet spot where you'll be out of the way and don't bother the rest of us.

tone

he delivers instructions with precision and without hysterics. i don't feel patronised. i do as i'm told.

punta del este, minas, tacuarembo, salto

the lobby
arm on the table, hand holding the paper steady, head tilted on this arm, other arm active, writing. eyes falling shut. words getting blurry. arm active, writing. head tilted. world passing by. 90 degree angle. world watching writer. head tilted. eyes closing. arm active. writing. map passing by. children passing by. fat blokes and their skinny girlfriends passing by. 90 degrees. head tilted. arm asleep. arm active. words blurry. writing.

the cricket
you sit on a bed in a hotel in the smi-dark. wondering what are the things that you should be thinking about and why you aren't thinking them. the trouble with going with the flow is that you have to remember not to swim against the current. a cricket chirps away, making sense. a tap drips. an american breathes in and out. writing produces no answers.

the ride
he sets the horse for me and off we go. towards the cows, then the lamb, then the sunset. galloping away. the sky is red and blue and grey and blue and red and grey and all the other colours you can think the sky will be around sunset. and a few more. the sky surrounds everything. the land surrounds everything. we can see for miles. dark comes in. i'm on the horse. invincible. he knows the way. the horses know the way. there is nothing to worry about. we get back in the dark and the path is lined with fireflies. stars of the land, flickering. later he reads me a story about another ride. ride away. that's what i'll do when i'm good and ready.

the sting
i'm driving to salto, on the 31 east-west. which i've never done. which i've never ever done. i'm doing well, i think. slow, fast, overtake, watch for the potholes, end in sight. salto is near. doing good. 120. keep going. nearly there. bang! an evil insect flies into the car and stings me in the neck. right next to my mole. if it's a bee, my neck will swell up and i can already feel my mouth getting numb...

casino

plastic, fluorescent, untrue. an old lady sitting on a stool, waiting. a whisky tumbler, watering down, abandoned, ice-cubes melting in the cool light. a man watching a woman writing on a slot machine. lights reflecting on the marble floor, twice as garish. cardboard cups. flushes, carrousels, lost eyes.

effort

when asking for directions

• listen
• understand
• remember

it's a simple expectation...

known

i have a freckle right in the middle of my neck and i think too much about everything.