Ballerinas / Soledad square

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Not Knowing if I'm Going or Coming

In a dream
I wrote my future
Carefully crafted my last years
in words, my own voice

which said
I could create the future in Oaxaca
there would be time to write

not speeches for others’ voices,
but poems
about color
corn
birds
music

Have you heard the saying
You write because you must?
Who said that?
I must,
though I don’t know why

I don’t know why
I’m thinking about forgoing a condo in Berkeley
I don’t know why
I’m so scared
or why it must be Oaxaca
And I must start over again

My friends are here
Grand Lake Hardware, Berkeley Bowl, Cole Coffee
beloved church
the sweet old dog, longtime partner in life
he might stumble
on Oaxaca’s gritty streets

What if my writing isn’t any good?

27 years ago I moved across the continent
I worried to death, how would I iron my clothes?
When I arrived, I bought an ironing board.

1 comment:

Mary Ellen Sanger said...

Joanne!
What a privilege to be able to follow your journey in this way -- see the colors with you, hear the birds, the traffic, and keep an arm around your shoulders for extra-added strength as you make this exciting move.
I believe your ironing board is still sturdy.
love,
mes