birds and maps,

 

There is a sweetness that flows through the morning light.  All burdens of midnight disappear, as if they've been swallowed by the moon while I was sleeping.  There is something about seeing my own hands in the daylight that keeps me from pulling on bad thoughts.    When the sun reaches my bedroom window, it's like a thousand tiny poems are waiting to be written. I can see the woodland phlox bloom fest and the dandelion courting spears of grass. 

In the morning, there is possibility. Whether possibility comes in the shape of blueberry pancakes, bending knives into butter dishes, swimming in a sea of maple syrup, or quite simply, just opening the drawer to where the cups and saucers meet.  There is no need for flashlights or shadows or running up the stairs so quick that the monsters below can't reach you.

In the morning, I feel safe.

In the morning, I write my greatest poems.

In the morning, ants look like tiny specks of peppercorn and birds look like dancers.

 

 

 

 

For as long as I can remember, cartography has fascinated me. Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. As a little girl, maps taught me how to understand time and space. The days spent looking at atlases and road maps taught me the difference between traveling by sea and traveling by road. The maps also taught me the length of space between my cousins in England and my cousins in Australia.  I could poke through photographs found in National Geographic to understand climate, culture, and the architecture of places, but without maps I'd never understand distance.

While growing up, I had a bright blue globe in my bedroom. It was a bit sluggish at twirling and I caught my fingers on it too many times, but it was a very good friend to me. I would use my tiny hands to push pins into the places I dreamed of traveling to. There were pins in Africa, Antarctica, Greenland, Japan, Brazil, and even the Indian ocean.  Of course, these pins were only pipe dreams but they fed me with hope.

Sometimes, I'd play tricks with myself. I'd spin the globe with my pointer finger ready and my eyes closed. The globe would do ballet for a few clock spins then I would place my finger back on the globe. I'd open my eyes and wherever my pointer finger touched was the place I'd raise my babies, or the place I'd meet my lovers, or the place that I would perish.  (So far I've met one lover, and no,  we didn't meet on a boat in the Pacific Ocean, or a camel ride in Africa.. )

You can imagine my excitement when shopakira offered to send me the map bag I'm wearing in this post. It's as if the bag was made by a cartographer using my dad's old belt buckles.  I'm in love.

(click here if you want to dream through pictures of cartography) 

(click here if you want to dream through beautiful stuff from shopakira)

Lapel Bird Print Dress -  sheinside - sponsor

brown floppy hat - jc penny - $5

socks - ardenes - $2

map bag - shopakira -