Dead Time

I want to live in Time that is alive

Time that breathes air into my tired lungs

I hear people talking about killing Time

I never want to do that

Let alone confess that I committed such a tragic murder

You are mine sweet Time

Even if just for this brief second

I want to enliven and cherish you

Grant you being

I never want to brag about my Busyness or lack of you

Or how I have too much of you on my hands

I promise to never act as if I have no power over making room for you in my life
I will always find Time for you dear Time

The truth is

You are infinite

Abundance

You engulf me as you surround me

I love you for who you are and who you are not

I want to just be with you where you are

Existing

Every second of every minute 
Of every hour of every day
Of every week of every month 
Of every year of every decade

Until I am no longer living

But you live on for others

You may be dead to others

But you were never dead to me

Dear Time,

         I feel so alive in your arms

Sunset Being

The sunset doesn't become easier to describe the more times you see it

No matter if you know the colors or names

It's not the same

I feel no one

No one

Can deny goodness in the world when they see a sunset like this

People take a snap

Put their heads down to text it to their friends or post it online

I just stare

Breathing it in with each inhale

Breathing out the pink, purple and blue

I see it as it comes out of my mouth

Like your warm smokey breathe that lingers in front of your face when it's too cold outside

Until the blended bursts of beauty are in front of my lips

I want to kiss them

Eat them

Suck them back into my mouth

Taste its color

Savor it

Let it linger on my tongue

I swallow it deep into my belly

Filling up the center of my being; it envelops me

Takes me over

Until all I am

All I radiate

Is sunset

Crossed Lines On The Subway

Everyone stands a few feet apart from one another. Just to be safe. Safe enough as not to invade anyones bubbles. Safe enough not to make contact or connection. Peoples eyes look all about, careful never to come into the sight line of another human being. Stomp on your curiosity. Crush your hopes of ever seeing anyone.

But there’s always that one person. Those few people whose gaze lingers a little longer than what is socially acceptable. They are longing - yearning, just as you are. For that connection. For that reminder that we are all apart of this vast planet. Just another number but another number together. Together in our struggle. In our hope. In our dreams of something more.

And suddenly for that split second, that shared moment where your eyes lock onto someone elses for just one brief flash - you get it. You feel it. And it’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever felt. And you want to keep looking. Keep being with them. Keep existing within each others eyes. But it’s “awkward.” You shouldn’t. You know its not right. So one of you looks away because the timer is up on when its no longer ok to really see each other.

The real question is, who set this timer in the first place?  

Tea Kettle Love

I love it when you work me up


Spin me round


Push my buttons


Tease until


I explode


Like a teapot


Ringing


Screaming


As if it finishes


They say a watched pot never boils


My blood simmers when you look at me


Your eyes act as my ignitors


My lighter


‘til its so hot


the only way to blow off steam is to release on sound


'til I’m so hot


Steaming


Defeated


All you can do is pour me


Drink me


Warm and done

Time

Time

Beneath the spinning ceiling fan
I breath in sweaty socks
My body is glued heavy to the floor
The aching of my feet
Rings through the air
As air is pushed from here
To there
Low
As if beneath the storm
She lays
Breathing in the ashes from her ancestors
She does not know
Where to go
Or what to do
Or why
But she knows how to stare them in them eye
Where are you coming from?
He asks as the fan blows fiercely in his face
It slowly rotates blowing in hers
Pushing the tear drops from her wet eyes
So close to the floor she can see every flick of dust
Every piece of dirt
Clings
The wood
Is this what ants see?
She wonders to herself
As she stares at the ceiling fan spin
And spin
And spin

The Park Is Open

It seems as if it was only yesterday that I moved into my apartment on Logan Street, half a block from the park of Echo Park. It was one of the selling points of why the place we had found was so perfect. I dreamt it up in my mind and it seemed to be sent to us seamlessly in sync with the Universe.

Shortly after we moved in, almost as an ironic joke, the park went under a huge construction that would not finish for two years. We moved in April 2011 and the park was scheduled to re-open in the Spring of 2013. I only had a few mornings running around that beautiful (yet smelly) lake before I was forced to run the perimeters of construction, usually in the street, hoping some distracted LA driver would not hit me with their car.

Though annoyed, I waited patiently with bated breath

Every time I ran by I couldn't help but stand on my tippy toes to see what was happening beyond the CAUTION tape. I’d lift up the tarp on the fence to catch a glimpse of the transformation occurring within its’ borders.

I found out the park would open a week after I had left for South Africa this summer. Well, poo! Fine then. I will wait. For I must.

Now the park is open. As James drove me back from the airport yesterday I marveled at its beauty. It is gorgeous. Randomly scattered about I still find pieces of trash from jerks who seek to degrade the good. Destroy the new. But it doesn't matter.

It’s alive again. With families gathering, friends walking, couples paddle boating, children playing and dogs running. The energy the beautiful transformation of the park has made possible is amazing.

I can’t help but make the connection to the metaphor that the park is like myself in a way. Just getting back from traveling I reflect on my own personal journey of the past two years.

What a difference two years truly can make. Funny to think of how long two years seemed when they boarded it up two years ago. And how like a blink, a wrinkle in time, it is done. Two years has passed. And no matter how much impatience I felt for it “to just be done already”, I know it was well worth the wait seeing what it has become.

Anything worth having is worth waiting for. Anything worth doing is worth putting in the time. And sometimes, though we may not like it – scratch that – we never like it, working on oneself and making a conscious effort to grow and transform takes time. It can be painful. It requires effort and does not happen overnight. But man is it worth it.

I am beyond grateful for the gorgeous park that is now open a half a block away from where I live. And as far as my own transformation, sometimes I can’t find words to describe the gratitude I feel.

Here’s a word: Peace.

I feel peace.

Follow Me To Africa

For those of you who haven’t heard I’m going to South Africa this summer with a company called ThinkImpact. I was hired as an adviser for their Institute this summer. To find out more follow my journey via my other blog specifically for my adventures as a travel writing, vagabond with insatiable wanderlust.

Below is the link to my blog where I will be recording my adventures:

Follow My Journey Here!

Nants ingonyama bagithi baba……

From the day we arrive on the planet

And blinking, step into the sun

There's more to see than can ever be seen

More to do than can ever be done

Follow me as I blinking step into the sun :)

Please share my stories. I'm honored to share them with you and hopefully the world.

Love,

Carly