berkeley bowl may be one of the most confusing places on earth. the first time i went there, i spent almost ten minutes trying to figure out the difference between japanese eggplant and chinese eggplant. even worse was this city boy’s discovery that some lemons are orange and some limes are yellow.
*I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!*

meanwhile, back at the poetry ranch, i have signed up for a series of workshops marking the first time in four years where i am in a poetry class that i don’t know the instructor’s middle name and alcoholic beverage of choice. anonymity, i love it!

i’ve also been quite the eclectic readers as of late with a nice list of poetry books, anthologies and graphic novels in the mix. all of which has the poetry gears movin in mah head.

presently, i am letting some asparagus purchased at the local farmers market marinate in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, fresh lemon juice, freshly cracked black pepper and a secret ingredient. (gotta love the nebulous) and i am going to make me some homemade mac & cheese.

love ya like the produce man loves to squeeze melons

its been a minute, dats for sure. not like i havent had much to blog about but the urgency to blog has lessened since ive moved out here which is my round about way to say: married life is beautiful.

am i missin mah friends? yeah. am i missin nyc? hmmm, not so much. more and more i am realizing just how much new york was a means to an end and that end being this incredible intersection of stories and the people who have lived them. i know some people would rather have a huge part in the story and be in as much of the mic as possible but i was always more the quiet narrator lurkin a bit on the edge even when it appeared that i was in the spotlight, it was more of a cameo apperance than anything else.

actually, one of the main reasons i started going to poetry readings was to be the quiet kid in the corner. sure i invited some folks to go with me and some were genuinely curious as to what i was doing on monday nights all by my lonesome but for a good six months it was nice to just listen in the back and enjoy myself all by myself. lil by lil that started to change and sure enough i started to miss that anonymity specially since it was becoming more and more elusive.

now i am kinda back to that quiet place in the back of the room with the added bonus of being able to chip in just a lil if the spirit calls for it. which is what happened last week at the flor y canto readings organized by the students of SF State and alejandro murguía. at two of the readings i was at, profesor murguía asked me to read a poem. (thanks, of course, to a lovely intro courtesy of my lovely wife.) it felt good to share some work, especially in front of a latino audience, even though i fumbled a couple of lines but it was all good in the end.

ok, i gotta run but i’ll be sure to post more regular. palabra!

on the quick: made it to oakland safe & sound. everything is as bright as you would expect it to be.

it’s lookin like the blog is gonna be the best way for the NYC heads to keep up with my further adventures. cool enough but the basic rules of the blog stay intact…
-if something beautiful happens in my life, i will probably blog about it
-if something goes haywire in my life, i probably wont
-i dont blog about my 9-5. pretty funny considering i dont have one at this second but you know what i mean.
-drama is best viewed with professionals on a stage or at the cinema, not on a blog
-the nebulous will be kept to a minimum
-inside jokes will appear frequently and will be properly footnoted
-yeah, i am still a manda todo

so, why in the hell would someone want to still read ye olde blog? i will promise to post all of my insecurities regarding my poetics. the process, the poems, the direction, the destinations and how it all gets jumbled up in my head. the fact that i have become comfortable with the title of “poet” in the last year or so is in no way keeping all my anxieties in check.

oh yeah, you can find poems from other folks here on occasion. generally, you’ll find poems that i enjoy but, on occasion, i may post one that i am not feelin in an effort to keep the dialogue on the critical tip.

i may start posting some og my own poems here from time to time. new locale, new habits. ya know.

this short update has gotten a bit long it seems and thats cool too since the blog still surprises me and thats a good thing.

love ya like a bagel loves cream cheese

“you are a city the sea assaults,
a stretch of ramparts split by the light
in two halves the color of peaches,
a domain of salt, rocks and birds”
Octavio Paz — Piedra de Sol (The Sun Stone)
translated by Eliot Weinberger

the last week has just been a whirlwind of emotions. i am very much
all over the place but in that good way. did some baby sittin duty
yesterday and got to have some extra chill time with my older sis and
her fam. it seems like all these wonderful coincidences keep poppin
up. then again, maybe not so coincidental.

gotta run and check out my last acentos for a while. i hear the
feature is all kinds of good ;-)

t-minus 24 hours…