If

Merely reading about “If I Loved You,” why it is a powerful song, why it works, made me cry. Not even hearing it. I also cried at the Orlando airport, when I realized I should have said goodbye to my family before security, that we were at different terminals and I would not see them […]

Blue

I sat on my bed, cross legged, painting my wings blue. The wings are already blue, the section lines that make them butterfly wings, like stained glass panels, are black, and they must be black for me to be the Blue Fairy. The Blue Fairy shows up at Gepetto’s, where he is praying that the […]

Summer Sunset

It was dusk it was too cold to swim. The Atlantic is always too cold. I unzipped my dress, pulled it off, made a pile. The section of the water I chose was between two rock fingers that measure the beach, black rocks with signs that, in the day, you can see say, “Do not […]

Moves

J’ouvert was this morning at 6 am. The beginning of the transplanted-for-weather-Carnivale here in Brooklyn. Usually it began at 3 or 4 am. Perhaps this is about slaves having to secretly celebrate. J’ouvert means, “day opening,” or “I open.” This year it was moved to 6, and accompanied by an even-greater police presence, and enormous […]