your hands were comets crossing

The North American Review has a great translation up of Macario Matus’ “Binnizá.” This world of ocelot grandparents and fish brothers is vivid and green, welcoming in the depths of New York’s midwinter grays. I had no idea there were so many different Indigenous languages spoken in Mexico.

In flamenco dance, the hand movements are referred to as floreo. These are what I pictured in reading the line “your hands were comets crossing.” The Spanish word “floreo” comes from the Latin word for flower, and – in fencing and music – means a flourish.

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Psalm Ambulista

I used to spend a lot of time going to shows.  My sister lived walking distance from Union Pool, an easy stroll or train ride to most of the venues we were all going to in that 2005-2012 or so time period.  

TV on the Radio, Bardo Pond, Stars of the Lid, Brightblack Morning Light, Mogwai, Fursaxa, Hammock, Weird Owl, Zelienepole, Grouper, Holy Fuck, School of Seven Bells, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Fourtet, Panda Bear, Explosions in the Sky, PJ Harvey, Black Angels, Dead Meadow, Beach House, Lower Dens, Coco Rosie…music seemed much better back then.  Le Poisson Rouge on Bleecker, the Brooklyn Masonic Temple, Music Hall of Williamsburgh, Prospect Park and Union Square Park.

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birth-stone to head-stone

Sometimes a good rejection is the highlight of your day, and it was for me a couple of days ago.

Letters Journal is supported by the Yale Institute of Sacred Music (ISM), and a dream spot of mine to be published in. Read it here.

 “What logos lights the filament of time, / Carbon arc fusing birth-stone to head-stone?” (Jean Valentine, “Afterbirth”).

These little deaths we dance our way through, that is where we find our value.