jaisikka (n.)

46/50 states.

that's where i'm at.

texas is beautiful to the point it makes my heart hurt.

i cried much of the way back home after crossing the OK border.

the stateline into colorado consisted of a wall of smoke.

wyoming welcomed me with open arms.

i saw gettobirds.

and i saw a three-legged horse.

the statue outside the AQHA hall-of-fame bares the name of Sacred.

the horse i saw didn't actually have three legs but one was broke so it might as well have.

i've never seen that before.

the…

when i was a kid i was in a play called Winnie the Pooh.  i acted the part of a little pink rabbit named Cottontail.  as i was walking around laramie yesterday at about 6:20 in the morning the sky was the most unbelievably amazing color i have ever seen in my life.  and i thought to myself.... indigo must be one of the most underrated colors out there.

in case you haven't figured this out or caught word, i'm in town and around for a few more days.  we have a couple events lined up this week finishing up…

Somehow I got lucky. 

This time of year is the absolute worst for me.  Somehow this time around it’s not so bad.  Perhaps I’m truly entering the state of acceptance I spoke about working on for so long.  ...truly being ‘okay’ with the way things are instead of wishing for them to be different.  …or longing for them to be the way they used to be. 

I’m thankful I’m in a new/old place and have found good friends.  These friends are ones I enjoy spending time around, talking and laughing.  …contemplating…

Friday, December 15, 2017 
 

Jaisikka Nada 
Keys Gap
West Virginia
 

To whom it may concern: 

I have been taking tiger vitamins for breakfast….  The children's chewable type.  I picked them up from the discount rack in the grocery stores where I shop. 
When my age was single digits, I crushed them between my baby teeth and swallowed them in pieces.  Sometimes I swallowed the tigers up whole. 
 

I’ve also been re-tracing my footsteps.  And let me tell you something:  I’m onto you. 
I see the destruction of open…

The name of the town is Winchester. I liked it immediately.  How could I not?  Thinking of Annie Oakley and the guns, my almost-forty-year-old camper with Wyoming plates fit in easily.  For no other reason in particular except for the heritage of the name Winchester.  Sometimes that's all it takes.  One word.

The coffee shop reminded me of Denver.  Records in the half-basement just off the stairs leading to the front counter.  Skateboard decks and custom limited-edition silk screen music venue prints…

limited edition copies of "33" now available at ActionBALL Boardsports and D&L Music.

pick one up if you haven't already.

I asked him for a cigarette 
but he said it wasn't okay. 
I thought of those things I gave up for him 
and he couldn't even lend a smoke. 

He said, "Mivazivazy Jaisikka." 
"Yeah, I'm kidding" was my reply. 
I made him laugh pretty hard 
although there was no joke. 

We sat there for awhile 
and I continued to write. 
Later my hand above his 
one hand black the other white. 

Perhaps that evening 
he realized his mistake. 
Wished he could do it over again 
take the chance he didn't take. 

But there's rules to be…

The memories have been coming think and fast lately.  Sometimes that happens when I get thoughts.  My mind keeps turning and turning until I am overwhelmed but comforted by the things that reveal themselves to me.  Images of tangerines and clean feet; thin bones; oil on metal; and long cotton robes scatter themselves across the white-screen of my mind.  They arrive while I am driving or lying in bed. Or sometimes, they come to me while I am sitting at a computer wearing a large pair of head-phones.

The…

According to the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii (via the climate.nasa.gov website), for the first time over the course of history as we know it, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have surpassed 400ppm. 
  
So what? 
Who cares? 
Yeah, what does this even mean? 
  
The news prompted me to revisit some writing from a few years back.  In retrospect, it is timely once again. 
  
***** 
  
The final night of our stay on Lee Stocking Island located in The Bahamas we were sitting outside enjoying the company of…