A Summer Self-Portrait
Armed with a digital eye
I gather my resources, sling them around my wrist and take the world into the palm of my hand
Italy, an explosion of distinct perfumes poignant like womanhood
I take the beauty I find and weave it into my hair, a living mosaic
flirting with life, who soon wants me to bear fruit
but first I take a step back and gaze at the ripe panorama
there are so many perspectives to be had on the world, so many directions spiraling out from this one moment, and so many patterns to be seen in the organization of all this living breathing beating shining wonder
in my hesitation mist rolls in and clouds my vision
Swallowing a magic bite I go out on a foxtrot in search of the bizarre
I discover a world of dark illusions, and even God, laughing at himself in bellows of thunder
In these moments I am something completely other, something extraterrestrial, far from Earth and blood and roots
and gazing at myself through myriad lenses, the storm begins to clear and I see before me a clear but empty shape, a womb, a frame that is asking to be filled with my portrait
and slowly but strategically like the dawn I rise, expand, and evolve myself into this new space, all mine
And these seeds of light, these jewels of experience that I have collected along the way, I sow them carefully onto the canvas of my journey
knowing that as the summer of my life approaches they are sprouting into a language spelling out who I am
