* I traveled to Louisiana because it's got saltwater and French roots and I was drying up and my skin was cracking in the landlocked state of Arkansas. PART 1 - The Alligator Kiss I’m about to kiss a wild alligator in the swamps of Louisiana. I’m standing on the bow of an airboat. Spanish …
COLD DIAMONDS FALL FROM THE SKY & PILE HIGH
I got a call from French Polynesia. The wind kicked up so hard in the lagoon that Juniper sawed and popped through one of her mooring lines. On top of that, my friends went to start her engine and the starter button fell straight through the panel, then she wouldn’t even start by hotwiring. The …
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STUCK IN THE SOUTH
Hi Buttercups, I am still here in Arkansas. I was going to go to French Polynesia yesterday. I wanted to go. I needed to go. But I can't go. People were getting turned back home as soon as they land in Tahiti. I heard that a plane came from Paris the other day and the …
PLANES AND FLORAL PUFFS
I left the pearl farm four Wednesdays ago. Goodbye blood, sweat, and oyster iridescence. The Ahe airport was it’s usual party scene; beers before noon, dancing, giggling. Someone kept yelling “Biden stole the election,” into my American face. I smiled back at their French face with my lips sucked tight to my teeth. It was …
HOT WITH FEVER FOR THIS CREATURE
“There is no quiet place in the white man’s cities. No place to hear the unfurling of leaves in spring, or the rustle of an insect’s wings.” Chief Seattle’s Speech – The Earth is Precious Chief Seattle’s speech hangs on the wall at the pearl farm. I first read it years ago and cried myself …
THE FLAT AND THE MELLOW
I can’t sleep. This light keeps turning on. It’s right above my head. Literally and figuratively. And last night I dreamt that someone put an armadillo in my hair. It wove it’s hard body into my strands and secrets started rising and I couldn’t get it out without getting bit. I woke up in a …
FISH & FIREWORKS & FLORESCENCE
Being here, in Ahe, is like being beneath an umbrella in a world without shade. New Years Eve is a splash. It‘s fish and fireworks and a dance floor full of florescence. Everything is decorated in palm fronds, and the moon wears her silver halo. A boat of nine is here. Together we make 17; …
CALL ME CYCLOPES
Now the moons flower is full. It’s light sinks down from the sky and stirs the lagoon into a field of yellow sparkles that leave me spellbound. Open-mouthed bliss, eyes swimming. Or rather my one good eye is swimming. The other is pink and puffy and swollen half-way shut. It’s a donut. PINK EYE...maybe? Who …
CHRISTMAS IN AHE
We left Tikehau the morning of Christmas Eve. The wind was coming from the northeast, so we rounded the north side of the island and shot over from there. Sailing towards Ahe like an arrow, not like a long and lost lightning bolt, as I had sailed two weeks before with Juniper. Sailing on Bad …
THE SWELL, THE SUN, THE SWARM
I didn’t mind sailing to Tikehau a second time. I enjoy it there; the swell, the sun, the swarm. The surf was on its way up and so were the holiday spirits. As soon as the anchor drops, I swim to shore. A woman in the fishing village feeds me hot homemade coconut bread, and …
