Feb 24 - Final Friday of my residency

aquashoes, beach bag and no, kitty-who-bites, you can't come with

non-native pines at beach

pine canopy not at all like the northern pines I know

what this island is made of: coral
what it looks like: bone
alternate name for Key West: Bone Island

this mile marker has no markers on the back when looking at it from the beach
is that because once you reach the beach there is nowhere you'd rather be?

cruise ship over there

Went to Fort Zachary State Park this morning. Finally had a swim. I was surprised at how big the waves were and how hard I had to swim to go in one direction while it was effortless to travel in the other. I thought of all the "survival at sea" books I have read and how all those stories tell of folks being carried out to sea, or having to fight so hard to get to shore. I have a bit more of an idea what they were talking about. I mentioned this to the people I was with, and one of them said "Yes, we have a lot of surf today. It's very unusual," and I realized, I have never swum where there was "surf". Waves, yes. Surf? No.

came home to see the number 6 on the ground
heat had melted the glue right off of it
no wonder I feel like I got too much sun

After I settled down and cooled off fom the beach in the morning, I got an invite to go to a poetry reading in the evening. Leonel Valle and Deborah Linker were going to be reading poems of the Keys and I was excited to go. I am trying to cram as much of the Keys in me now as I can.

tonight's special event

Big Pine Key Fishing Lodge

Deborah Linker and Leonel Valle
I was thrilled to hear Leonel recite Florida Keys for me, in English and in Spanish.
I discovered it during my after-exhibit melancholia.
It just feels like the Keys to me and I know I will be re-reading it often when I am back home.

And I am still thinking about Deborah's poem, Slack Tide. Loved the idea of a slack tide when the tide goes neither in, nor out. It is a curious state for water, and others, to be in.

Okay. Here's the deal.

Are those even complete sentences? Yes, by George they are.

Anyway as I was on the bus going to school this afternoon (printmaking class. etchings continued. did 4 prints; 3 sepia 1 colour; next week: intro to soft ground) I could not maintain a happy frame of mind. Unusual for me. So I had the trusty free metro paper at hand and as I was leafing through it, getting caught up with the latest celeb to check herself into rehab after talking loudly through the director of The Butterfly and the Bell Jar's award speech at some Hollywood thing, (I didn't know this actress...) I thought I'd read the horoscope and see what it says for me today. Here's the guidance it gave me:

SCORPIO | Oct. 24- Nov. 22

A meeting is the setting for foul language. A man rubs somebody the wrong way. An awful event leads to a lucky break.

WTF? It seems so off the mark. Sometimes the horoscope feels neutral, at best I hope for it to be true somehow,or sort of true, but this one? It sounds more like a poem to me.

Foul language
meeting
wrong way rubs a man
an awful event but
a
lucky break

I may have stumbled onto something. Maybe I'll try and make a poem from the metro horoscope more often. I've had the urge to write lately. It's good to heed your urges. Keeps the old creative fire burning.

On another note, I was surfing this site and looking through the various "how to do art" videos uploaded and apparently it takes 41 seconds to learn the basics of colour theory, and a minute to tell you how to be a self taught artist. And it takes 5 minutes and 43 seconds to teach you how to get out the door in 2 minutes (This is in the beauty section. I think we can all get out a door okay right? Do we need a video?)

Love this site. Tres amusant.