gypsylouise

A love of words and allegiance to 26 letters has given me the birthright of a gypsy... free to wander, without abandon, into worlds both familiar and unknown.

[gypsylouise]

Jimi Hendrix films Janis Joplin backstage at Winterland, San Francisco, 1968.✨✨ I found the “Greatest Hits” albums of both Janis and Jimi in my parents’ CD collection when I was probably 9 or 10 years old. I vividly remember rolling back the carpet in the living room for space to choreograph dances to “Move Over,” “Piece of My Heart,” “Fire,” and “Foxy Lady.” Back then, the way they sang reminded me of Lois Lowry’s book, The Giver; like they were holding the whole world’s hurt inside their voices, but with just enough hope to pull us through. I’ll never stop being enamored by people who carve out their own paths by ignoring the Do Not Enter signs along the way. This is how I remember to be bold. This is how I remember that different is ALWAYS more interesting. #JanisJoplin #JimiHendix (at Winterland Ballroom)

[gypsylouise]

Quotes, for me, have always been a form of sustenance—like life blood to a Vampire. I’ve been feeding off the words of wise women and men for as long as I can remember, and Martin Luther King Jr., of course, has always kept me full. But instead of his words, which will be pervasive today no doubt, I’ll quote Rollo May from his book, The Courage to Create: "... it depends on one's capacity to perceive, to let one's self see the suffering of other people. If we let ourselves experience the evil, we will be forced to do something about it. It is a truth, recognizable in all of us, that when we don't want to become involved, when we don't want to confront even the issue of whether or not we'll come to the aid of someone who is being unjustly treated, we block off our perception, we blind ourselves to other's suffering, we cut off our empathy with the person needing help. Hence the most prevalent form of cowardice in our day hides behind the statement . . . 'I DID NOT WANT TO BECOME INVOLVED.' " #DarknessCannotDriveOutDarkness #OnlyLightCanDoThat #HateCannotDriveOutHate #OnlyLoveCanDoThat #MLK #YourChoice #BecomeInvolved #BeTheLight 🕯✨ (at The Panhandle)

[gypsylouise]

/ / / they wait for me to soften with time grow warm like butter left out too long on the kitchen counter fold into myself like leather wait for me to find the space between the things they need me to want me to be but there is a dog chained to my rib cage barking incessantly and I took a city for a lover in response to a reoccurring fever dream I am not threatened by the years the clock has yet to corner me but they are waiting... for the dog to hush a lover to take shape for the bastard child of inevitability to dig its hungry claws in me so I keep running. (at Top of the Mark)

[gypsylouise]

The thing about words is they have the power to either put you to sleep or absolutely floor you. 26 letters is all we get, but someone out there put them in this order on a neon sign and my damn heart stopped beating. This art installation reminds me of the Lord Huron lyrics, "yes I know that love is like ghosts / oh, few have seen it, but everybody talks / spirits follow everywhere I go / they sing all day and they haunt me in the night..." Sometimes I feel like a conduit. Like an open window without a screen. This can invite pain and disappointment, but then again, are those not the feelings from which we learn the most? If you get more time, then time will heal, and if you don't does it really matter? I have loved so many people and things with my entire heart, but guess what? My heart never gets tired. Me and my mind have known defeat, but my heart is a son of a bitch that won't quit. So I suppose my point, if I ever have one, is this... when you let life in you learn. And once you learn you're better able to love. And once you love... all your ghosts feel like badges of honor, "and like this your keep them alive." (at Haight-Ashbury)

[gypsylouise]

/ / / the best test is when no one is looking who are you when you're off duty ? up for what do you stand ? for whom would you fall ? how do you define the most important words ? like loyalty and love ? do you fit within your own definitions ? do these questions make you nervous ? do mirrors make you lean forward to check your own reflection ? or do they make you turn inward to check what you're reflecting ? do you ask yourself hard questions . . . like if I dare look inside, will I like what I see ?

[gypsylouise]

poetry doesn't follow rules or listen to guidelines. it doesn't fumble around worried about precedent or predecessors. it doesn't ask for a seat at the table nor would it rsvp if invited. it begs neither for approval nor forgiveness. possesses not the incessant need to be agreed with. poetry is unapologetically bound by nothing, least of all the mind... in a word, poetry is magic.❁ (at University of San Francisco School of Law)

[gypsylouise]

❁ ❁ ❁ I would bend wood around which I'd wind string fasten feathers and weave beads above your bed I'd gladly sleep to be the catcher of your dreams

[gypsylouise]

/ / / I look for you in the cracks of wooden bar tops call you on the walk home to see if we were as bad as I remember you never answer which is how I know this life is rented there are always tenants moving out and new ones moving in

[gypsylouise]

[gypsylouise]

Maybe it's something you watch a person you see song you hear or how someone makes you feel, but the point is, suddenly you're feeling which makes you think, "I can do more." So you get dressed in yesterday's clothes the only difference is now you're a tomorrow woman no one else knows it they cannot see it but you're walking two inches taller intention is a mindset it is a pulling up while anchoring down intention is a decision... and decisions, well decisions feel damn good.

[gypsylouise]

I feel misunderstood and it feels fine.

[gypsylouise]

/ / / just like the tide you come rolling in and I chase you back again to the sea so I can see… if when the sand leaves both our feet will we float or will we sink? and just like the moon you only show your face at night all the truths you try to hide from me so I can’t see just how deep these waters run say I’d be safer with the sun… (at HaightAshbury)

[gypsylouise]

when it's the second time around and now the shame is on you a half baked cake sliced and served until crumbs remain damned be the women who dare take out their sewing boxes to mend forgone souls like socks with holes rather than buying new pairs

[gypsylouise]

I want to teach you the language of flowers When your face looks full of questions That your mouth can't quite spit out I want to show you with my arms how much And I know that I don't know you yet But I do know this... I hope sleep is the only distance we ever know

[gypsylouise]

Profound Appetites sometimes just plain lust roared body of poetry essays of the mind Saturday in Pategonia death confirmed by native son summers wild countryside enthusiastic rattlesnakes colonized during winter Pategonia! far from self dazzlingly dissolute essential pursuit to write volumes about a ravaged world

[gypsylouise]

Memories like migraines In the joints of my bones This bone, connected to that bone Surrounded by a web of things A wonderful wicked web of veins All coursing with the goddamn thought of you

[gypsylouise]

I've tried red wine and turpentine To rid the us from me