i am adriana. my first stay in california was about 7 years ago, and i fell in love with the rich green land before i got off the plane. i love the architecture, the diversity of the people and the settings, the gorgeous beaches, everything. everything about the california i have seen entrances me. in my stays, especially my most recent one, i've felt so inspired and filled with words, music and art. the atmosphere of the mountains and the soft sandy beaches opened me up on the inside. i felt myself flooded with emotion and energy. poetry oozed out of me. the more i took in the beauty of the land, the more that flowed out of me. nothing is as moving to me as the peacefulness of nature. i have written poetry about california as well as poetry inspired by being in california.
exploding in my heart
but then the water comes
everything that is me, alone
i take flight at sundown when the world is quiet
the people have slipped
back inside their adobe and white stone lives
i am the only soul with running shoes
sandy feet and a sandy face
specs of me go flying
too small to see
too infinite to count
the colors of the sky
paint my face in shadows
as the palette of who i am inside
starts dripping into the ocean
that calls to me
sea birds and me
with a crescendo of timpanis and gongs
i can't ignore
i scribble her name in the
wet sand at my feet with
a child's finger
feeling
an adoration beyond lifetimes
she is some sister
from the last trip
my eyes fall on my one word poetry
and i smile with salt between my teeth
the smile of a graffiti artist
whose crime goes on without punishment
and washes all remnants of her
off of my body
and the mermaid name fades,
goes back with the undertow
to sleep forever in coral
beds
and with me, sand covered
under twisted borrowed sheets
these jeans are growing tighter
this was a night of rain today is
around my belly
i store memories in the worst of places
don't know what insane divine force
pulls me into your wake hour after hour
i wake into life
hour after hour
a long long time
since it was you and me
in the rain
my insides all giggly my heart
like a school girl's
speaking of the cutest boy in
the 5th grade
we walk
in past tense
down the avenue leading to
the first place
where it was just you and me
a little asian lady who i
remember from another life comes
and has about the nicest smile
this side of the milky way
and i just look across at you
past tense
smiling like a fool
like a foolish girl with
another foolish girl on her mind
much later but the
sky is dark dimming
the lights for rest
it's the same sky that
came tumbling down on us
on the empty avenue
the same sky that slipped
and slided down our souls on
a monday night where there was no more
no less than two
us
past tense
my hand stuck in yours
this crazy glue is the
more adhesible to skin type
i still remember your
fingerprints
and the smell of your smile
flowers and schoolgirls
in the rain in chinatown
ordering chinese food minus
the chinese part
ordering meatless dishes dining on
the idea of a new friendship
future tense
my pants grow tighter
belly filled with authentic cuisine
and fresh memory ingredients
good thing i never wear a belt
good thing i bought
these pants a little on the big side
cause it leaves lots of room
for you to
fill in
i feel i have failed
i feel i have failed
i know i have pushed the limits
i think i have failed
falling into the memory of your eyes
i keep seeing
the first day, the beginning when
you stepped out into the rain
greeting me by my car
flowers and all
(god your eyes)
giving in to desire
that leads me nowhere
no one is calling me
so i pick up the pace
start my own connections
leave your voice distant and
my heart more afraid
than when we started
falling into your
love that only lasted
when i was nearer
than near
one too many times
ive crossed
the line
they say it's thin
between love and hate
i think of tight ropes
and shaking feet
unbalanced soul
and i think of falling
into a net woven
with broken fibers
i cling to
the little threads you left
on my arm like single hairs
disconnecting web
too frail to support the weight
of me with love
falling
falling into the pit of me
where everything melts together
a brown crayon
scribbling something about death
death of the heart
eternal life of the able mind
brown doesn't
disassemble into
the tolerable red and pagan green
so i try
to keep my head up
knowing
i am knee deep in tears
and you are free
to cross the tightrope
with the world below
you are free
to call whoever you want
you are free
All text and images in The Central California Poetry Journal are copyrighted. Copyright by © by Scott Galloway 1996. All rights are reserved. See main Journal page for
copyright information.
Authors and poets submitting original materials to this journal retain all rights to their
original work, except those rights specifically assigned in writing to Solo Publications including the right to publish the submitted work in The Central California Poetry Journal. The poems on this page are copyrighted by the author.
Copyright © Adriana B. Quintero 1996.
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