The Details

The Details

I trace the line

of your cheek.

I wonder if I can

still do it,

commit your

face to

paper.

I don’t take

my eyes

off

you.

I guess

that’s really

all it takes.

Pure drishti.

The rest are

lines and curves

and color.

The key is

seeing you

just as you

are.

Image: My drawing (partial watercolor) of C

April 26, 2021

#NaPoWriMo2021 No. 26

“Albert Einstein put it best: The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” - Betty Edwards, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

Light My Way

 

Light My Way

“Take my picture,

Mommy,” she says

because the light

is pretty at sunset

even if she has

a mask on.

“And I want

Sparta in it.”

So, there they

are, framed by

the river and

the lights.

A long time

ago, you must

have taken

that picture

of me with

a Pekingese

whose name

I’ve forgotten.

I was never

far from

my favorite

spot, by

your

side.

Evening star,

the light-years

will pass

and one day,

you, she,

and I

will intersect

in one

glorious

space.

Images: Mine.

In memory of Mommy, on her death anniversary.

April 19, 2021

#NaPoWriMo2021 No. 19

Mood music: Iris by U2 

Clea, Sleeping

This for you to keep
when you are a grown woman
or maybe a mother yourself:
the smooth and plump
arch of your soles
when I kissed them
in your sleep,
your wispy baby hair
in my fingers
and the soft sound
of your breathing,
your brows not yet
drawn together
in your defiant little frown
as you lay dreaming.

May 27, 2012
by Justine Camacho-Tajonera

Morning Siren

by Justine Camacho-Tajonera

At 5 a.m. she cries,
she demands,
she will not be denied.
I wake up, startled,
obeying an instinct, following
a predetermined course on a map
with my brain half-asleep.

Soothed, she cups my face
in her tiny hands.
She looks into my eyes.
The room is still dark
but her eyes are shining.
Who is this who heard me? 
Who is this who completely 
understood me?


Years from now
someone will fall in love
with her
for those eyes.

I smile and take her hands
in mine before we both
fall back to sleep.

For Clea


Image is of Ponyo (Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo on the Cliff)