3 Poems that I like

"Beber"
Gabriela Mistral

Recuerdo gestos de criaturas
y eran gestos de darme el agua.

En el valle de Río Blanco,
en donde nace el Aconcagua,
llegué a beber, salté a beber
en el fuete de una cascada,
que caía crinada y dura
y se rompía yerta y blanca.
Pegué mi boca al hervidero,
y me quemaba el agua santa,
y tres días sangró mi boca
de aquel sorbo del Aconcagua.

En el campo de Mitla, un día
de cigarras, de sol, de marcha,
me doblé a un pozo y vino un indio
a sostenerme sobre el agua,
y mi cabeza, como un fruto,
estaba dentro de sus palmas.
Bebía yo lo que bebía,
que era su cara con mi cara,
y en un relámpago yo supe
carne de Mitla ser mi casta.

En la Isla de Puerto Rico,
a la siesta de azul colmada,
mi cuerpo quieto, las olas locas,
y como cien madres las palmas,
rompió una niña por donaire
junto a mi boca un coco de agua,
y yo bebí, como una hija,
agua de madre, agua de palma.
Y más dulzura no he bebido
con el cuerpo ni con el alma.

A la casa de mis niñeces
mi madre me traía el agua.
Entre un sorbo y el otro sorbo
la veía sobre la jarra.
La cabeza más se subía
y la jarra más se abajaba.
Todavía yo tengo el valle,
tengo mi sed y su mirada.
Será esto la eternidad
que aún estamos como estábamos.

Recuerdo gestos de criaturas
y eran gestos de darme el agua.

(rough translation)


"love poem"
Linda Pastan

I want to write you
a love poem as headlong
as our creek
after thaw
when we stand
on its dangerous
banks and watch it carry
with it every twig
every dry leaf and branch
in its path
every scruple
when we see it
so swollen
with runoff
that even as we watch
we must grab
each other
and step back
we must grab each
other or
get our shoes
soaked we must
grab each other


"This Is Just To Say"
William Carlos Williams

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

Vegas, pt. 2

Vegas was soooo much fun. For one, I hadn't seen Emily in like 2 1/2 years, so it was just neat to be able to hang out with her for a week! It was also really neat to see all the sites. I'm not sure which casino was my favorite, but I really liked the Venetian and the Bellagio.

The Venetian, mostly because of these guys


And the Bellagio because I got to go to Tiffany's for the first time (Audrey would be proud).


I also got to watch the sweet fountains at the Bellagio.


There was also Phantom of the Opera. Classic. Simply astounding.


And the random car that we saw in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Emily was laughing for hours about how crazy it was. I just kind of wanted to call the number. Haven't done it yet.


All in all, my Vegas trip was a success. The only thing that could make it better would be coming back married to a stranger or losing more than $1 gambling (yes, that was my gambling budget). I guess I'll just have to return!

Vegas, pt. 1

Okay, so my Las Vegas trip merits more than one post. I will start by relaying my disaster day. And I will do it using lots of pictures. I love pictures. My disaster day was Friday. I told Emily that it was one of those days where it's just a test to see if you will be patient through everything. I believe I passed. So, here goes:

1. I woke up early to go with Emily to work. It started out well. We made it safely to her workplace, I met her co-workers, and she printed off a map of the strip for me, so I could explore a bit.

2. I started off on the strip. At first, I was a little nervous. I mean, the Las Vegas strip. Kind of scary, right? Not so much, it turns out. Though I did get to see a bum sleeping on the side of a bridge. It actually made me kind of sad.


3. I ate crepes. At a creperie. In Paris.


4. I know this isn't sounding that bad yet. Hindsight is 20/20.

5. I was getting kind of tired after walking around for a few hours, and decided to take a break and visit the Las Vegas temple. I've always wanted to go! I used Emily's little GPS guy and made it quite easily to the temple. And, I started getting cocky. This getting around Vegas thing isn't so hard after all!


6. So, I was still feeling a little tired after the temple, and decided to head back to Emily's house for a little rest and freshening up before our night out on the town. I got out the handy dandy GPS, and punched in her address, trusting that it would easily lead me to her house. Never trust in the arm of flesh! I made it to the general area of her house, after fighting through lots of Vegas traffic, and then I was lost. The GPS kept telling me to turn onto a street that didn't exist. And all the houses look alike, so I couldn't even tell where I was. I suppose I could have called Emily, but for some reason this didn't occur to me at the time. I drove around for about half an hour, until I finally found the original directions Emily gave me to get to her house and made it from there. Home at last (and thoroughly dehydrated, I might add. It's hot in Vegas!)

7. I pull into the garage, go to open the door and realize... it's locked. And I don't have a key. At this point I can get mad, or I can... go to Target. I choose the latter.


8. Two things I needed to do at Target: get refreshment and eye drops for my super dry contacts. Easy enough. And, I love target. If anything will soothe my nerves, it's shopping. So I spend some time perusing through the toiletries, and then on my way out I decide on a nice ice cold icee to drink on the way back to Vegas. I love the cherry icee, but, as fate would have it, it does not love me. I spilled it all over my white shirt. Why don't I learn not to wear white?


9. Okay, so, I have two options again. Get upset about going out to dinner looking like a ragamuffin, or buy a new shirt. Not a hard decision. I go back in to look for a new shirt, and they don't really have anything. So I end up buying a new dress. AND I found a $25 Target gift certificate in my purse. SCORE! I ended up buying matching earrings too.

10. I make it back to Vegas (barely) alive. The traffic on a Friday afternoon is not so friendly, and I nearly died several times. I got lost getting back to Emily's work too, but miraculously I made it back to the parking garage. And there I almost died again, as people were zooming around the corners trying to get out of there.

11. Needless to say, I was more than happy to sit back and let Emily take the wheel at that point. Moral of the story: If you don't get mad, you get a new dress.

I actually missed Provo

I guess it's home for me now.

And I'm not sure how I managed to become a follower on my own blog. I can't remove myself, so I guess I'll just have to look vain.

More vacation posts to follow.

Forgetting

So, this might be kind of a sad post, but I'm just in one of those moods. I suppose this has been building up for a while. Like, my whole life. Sometimes forgetting is good. In fact, I'm really grateful when I forget about those times I was picked on in elementary school, or how I used to wear stretchy pants with the little foot suspenders, or those times when I just felt completely and utterly alone. Forgetting is a very gracious act of nature.

However, there are some things I don't want to forget. Like the way my mom would help me get ready for my first day of school and give me a big kiss as I would walk out the door, or how fun it was to just be a kid and imagine that I could do anything (and not care about what pants I was wearing), or the times in my life when I have felt completely and utterly happy. Forgetting is painful.

Lately, I have been going through a very real transition of forgetting. I first started realizing it when I would start to speak Spanish, and I would get nervous and kind of tense as soon as I opened my mouth. Where did that come from? I haven't done that since I was a greenie in the mission field! So I started taking preventative measures, like speaking Spanish every time I get the chance. I'm still forgetting, however.

And then I was talking to Louis today on the phone. He's back in Chile after two long years, and has been doing a lot of remembering. In fact, I heard him speaking to one of his co-workers in Spanish, and he sounded like a genuine Chilean.

I started to get sad because I DON'T WANT TO FORGET! It's not just Spanish! It's an entire year and a half of my life that was the most difficult and amazing and eye-opening experience of my entire life, and I'm forgetting? I can't! I can't forget the names, the faces, the Spirit, the people, the love, the smells, the tears...

In the scriptures, the prophets are constantly exhorting us to remember. I suppose they have to remind us so often because we so often forget. So, remembering takes effort. I'm resolved to do so.