Zoning out

This is something I didn't do today: hit the studio and print. I am definitely cycling out of this pocket of time and space, pretty much done with etching. I have one major project to finish (which I've been avoiding now for a month b/c it's too scary to contemplate what its failure could look like) and that's it! Good timing, too, since I am getting weird wrist pain from all the repetitive motions of printmaking. I'm really looking forward to working at my little sewing table at home and working around my schedule.

Today was all self-care, including yoga with Naz and acupuncture with Isobeau. Good news: Angelo finally got a website! And here is another poem from the Language for a New Century anthology:

Cycle
by Bimbal Nibha

It's been a few days since
my bicycle has vanished
Do you know where I might find it?

It's true that my cycle is small
its tires are bald
they have too little air
the color is faded
the stand is broken
the kinetic light is faulty
the bell trills softly
the pedal move slowly
the chain is old
the handlebars are askew
the wheel is bent and
it has no carrier or lock

Yet no matter what
even if it's flawed and defective
even if it's shabby
no matter what, that cycle is mine
The weight of my body lies on its seat
The measure of my feet fills its pedals
The print of my hands marks its handlebars
My breath rests in each part of that cycle
I am there
That cycle is my life

(What kind of place is this
not unknown to me, my own village
where in the bright light of midday
a whole life can vanish?
Do you know where I might find it?)

It's been a few days since
my bicycle has vanished
Do you know where I might find it?

Translated from the Nepali by Manjushree Thapa