i am thin-skinned and slippery. thrown down by the ghost in the cross-walk and stunned into contortion and compromise.

i am no-sense and without words of comprehension, human and forgetting.

i am not tough. i am not able to sustain prolonged periods of cavalry and command.

i am water and wimp, softness and salve. i want for peace, strong arms, and a soft wool blanket.

every time i go away, every time i stretch myself, i am humbled by how long it seems to take before i can feel the ground again.

it takes many brief reminders, like the glancing of fingertips, to feel, in my body, where i belong.

photo: siblings in Fajardo. August 2011.

i arrive in layers, parts, pieces. the more primitive show up first. want, need, fragile, and fight. i  arrive tenderness and ill-timed, and with the irrepressible urge to scrub down the refrigerator from top to bottom. i am impatience with the car that needs washing and a body longing to do nothing. i am judgment of the fatigue and the dusty suitcase on the floor. the adventure craves the domestic, but rarely speaks of this. the pleasure of the clean cave, the zen of food and rolling socks in pairs. the sweeping and the eggs.

meanwhile, i download and name files, replace lost sunglasses and the shoes i gave away, and remain mostly mute while i wait for the rest of me. the more graceful parts. the ones that communicate, remember, translate, and transcribe. they tend to arrive more quickly when i sit still.

photo: Tarahumara baskets for sale, train-side, somewhere between Divisadero and Bahuichivo. August 2011.

the first half of the trip is already over. i’m waiting to show any project images until i’ve returned home and given ample time to put stories together. until then, more snaps of the incredible san miguel de allende.

tomorrow i leave san miguel and fly to chihuahua to take the train to the copper canyon. so much to process. conversation, images, themes and ideas. i am so grateful for this project. so grateful.

more soon.

i have arrived.

all is well.

will rest today and head to CASA tomorrow.