Words of Acadiana

Made my quest  Out into the desert  Unarmed  Just the new me in my arsenal  Standing alone Empowered  Ran my fingers across the scars of my chest  The wounds from my history Stitched and healed  Never forgotten  They’re part of me now  No longer holding my breath from pain  Like an exhale soul deep  A smile on my face as I’m graced with the morning sun  I could go anywhere  Be anything  But my ambition today is just to be  In love with my lavender latte  In walks the bluest eyes  Set amongst the bluest skies  My heart hanging on a fence undefended  Maybe it’s time again  To allow myself to feel  I trust this desert implicitly  Haunted so stunningly in real time  With each step you take closer to me  Aquamarine   

  Dancing with the ghost of us   Drunk on grief  Late summer night  Under a fluorescent moon  You rode into my life on the winds of fate  Lassoed my heart  Awakening my love  With no intention of loving me back  So all I have left  Is memory  Sepia Ghosts  To dance with on this heartbreakingly dark night  Mist twirls through the air Softening my rage  Into deep melancholy  Your memory  Driving circles around me  Trapped in the glow of the tail lights  You left without warning  Desserted me out in the desert  To wander alone  Wondering “what if’s”  They threatened to echo through my  Bereft brain  Until i realized that the magic I feel on nights like this is of my own making  This earth I trod  Full of those who came before me  I feed off of their strength  Til I can stand on my own  The only way I know is forward  Destination unknown 

We have walked through fires  Both literally and figuratively  You could file us under damaged goods  The damage fluctuates  The good remains  You are my sister  My family  My bones  Your support is the construct  Of the future me  Our friendship nourishes  Music like balm healing us  We excavated versions of ourselves in the desert that will always remain  One with the land  My heart forever grateful  For the flame that is your spirit  You dance through my life  Laughter like glitter in your wake  Leaving it more dazzling   

  The unraveling  Of my fathoming  The tapestry of us in my mind  Desert landscapes  Dreamscapes  Always feels like going home  To the golden light  At the center of all things good  Healing takes time  Mending takes craft  And with her dust she covered me  Deafening silence   Allowing my voice to reemerge  It’s all there for the taking  You just have to listen  I’ve felt my breath with the breeze  As it dances through leaves Leaving everything better in its wake  The unraveling  Gave me sustainable material  To rebuild myself  Into the person standing here today  Forever grateful  To my sister Marfa  There’s magic in your land  Freedom in your sky  Redemption from my past 

 Minds tied to hands  Tethered  Like dirt and water  Whose combination forms firmament  Earth and water  Shaped by hands  Sacred intention  Left to harden in the searing desert sun  Baked by heat  Man builds a dwelling  A protection from the harsh natural elements  Adobe  A lesson in impermanence  Of standing as long as we can  Until the elements reclaim us  The very things that built us  Usher in our demise  Beat down by Sun and rain  The wind that dried us out  Now demolishes us in our weakened state  Into a pile of rubble  But what beauty lies in our ruin  A testament of a time we stood in glory 

 There really is no coming back  From times and places that change you  From individuals who become anchors  I was the dust  You were the rain  In our monsoonal dance we became mud together  Shaped by fate, hardened by the searing desert sun  We’ve built something that will last as long as it can  Before the elements reclaim us  There’s simple beauty in impermanence  It’s how it’s supposed to be  Time is a construct  Less pressure on us to achieve the unachievable idea of forever status  Two egos, surrendered, driven by fate  We chose to dance down this winding path together  Equine love and amber sunsets in our wake  Ranch waters and hemp gummies  And so on and so on  Talismans around our necks  The quest of two tortured poets  Becoming less tortured  At the unknown end of the road lies friendship  Marfa and our past selves in the rearview  Contentment  Until it all begins anew 

 Serape dreams  As the sun dips beneath the Davis mountains  The warmth of the day lingers on my skin  Like your touch  But it’s fading as the cool night air descends  There’s magic in the air all around me, twinkling  A drum beat in my head  Are you the somebody making me move?  Dancing across a barren earth barefooted  With my heart filled with future  All of my memories of my painful past  Evaporate like desert rains  When you’re next to me  I see you down every road  In every direction  Intersections  I am a christened new version each time I wake  Left in your wake  Waves of love crash over my head and flow  Leaving me drenched in you  A new life  Soundtracks in my mind  Move my feet closer to you  Capturing this feeling  Feels like chasing midnight lightning  Through monsoonal Marfa summer nights  Electrifying  These summer nights keep me alive  Dancing and dreaming  A desert Gypsy  In the pouring rain  Feeling slightly insane  Drunk on this love 

 You give off this magic  Free flowing from your fingertips  In my head the visions never stop Of us riding away  The backdrop of a sinking Western sunset  Watercolors  Lavender and pinks  Like my heart  It explodes against a tan adobe wall  Over and over  A million times I could fall into your eyes  Oceanic  With desert vibes  You’re the stars that decorate my nights  Wild and fluorescent  Fading into an indigo night  To be reborn again with the morning sun  Endlessly  Your impression on me is forever  Like a fossil  Like love 

  I danced all night   As sandcastles slowly returned to the sea  A tale of you and me  Once I was the next best thing  Now I slowly retreat to the sea  To the abyss of solitude Crashing waves of grief  Yet my relief’s in release   King of my own nights again  Out of sorts  Out of orbits  Of traitors    disguised as lovers  Streaking across my sky  Only to leave me in the dark once more  But it’s in the shadows that I thrive  Dancing until the light of dawn  Threatens my safety  I retreat once more  Until nightfall  I fell  Under your spell  Now your power’s no more  How does it feel to fall from beloved  To    reviled ?  The sands of fate beguiled  Two souls to intertwine  Now the love has faded  And the tapestry’s all mine   To display  Or to hide 

  The hologram of our love   Dances before me  Like the shadow of a candle on the wall Fragile in the wind  One strong gust   Could snuff it out  You’re a ghost in my hall  The regret I sit with on sleepless nights  Alone  Chilled to the bone  You roared into my life  Then left me with bland goodbyes  Used to dream that you’d come back to me So I left a lamp on  Flickering in the night for only you  Tonight I switch it off  Draw the blinds  In peace I release  Any hopes I had for us  The tears I shed  Evaporated like lust  Gone forever  The light’s faded to black  No coming back 

She watches through the window of this old adobe Strangers pass by  She wonders about their lives  Their exclamations Their secrets  The desert is blowing outside  Dust particles look like glitter in the Texas   sun  She dreams of places yet unnamed  Somewhere to leave her mark  A wild Western streak  Her dreams levitate  Swirl and dance with the desert air  Like a curtain in the breeze  Gently falling  Then rising with a billowing ease  Like clouds  They ascend to the heavens  Whispering to her ancestors  Her desire for change is immense  She prays with ghost beads  Breathes in sage smoke  There is a holiness to becoming unhinged