Monday, December 21, 2009

correction. My address is 840038!!! NOT 48 woops. sorry

Empire State of Mind

Probably the best and worst thing to happen to me lately would have to be getting a CD in the mail from my wonderful sister; who truly is keeping me up to date on the music world both pop and indie. Bless her soul! However I must add shout out’s to my totally hip brother, Bobby, his mixes are always the bee’s knee’s and my Aunt Lisa who has a great taste in music and has helped open up my horizons to new music! Thanks guys! Anyway on my sisters latest CD the song “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys was put on it; and boy oh boy does it make me miss New York and my years of college, but especially my last year, and all the people, places, and things that mean New York to me. Ah memories. I am making tons here don’t get me wrong, and who would have guesses that 5 months would have passed so quickly!
It makes me so thankful that I have two years here, because to be perfectly honest I don’t even feel like I have started my service yet! The first 9 weeks was training, and I wasn’t even in my village yet. Now this past 3 months has been getting to know my community, meeting people and organizations, and overall getting a feel for the language and culture. This three-month period has been called community entry, which ended yesterday, just in time for Christmas holiday. My intake has it a bit rough I believe, in terms of setting up a stable connection with our villages, this is because we have a lot of coming and going from our village over a two-month period of time. Those who continue to read from here are going to start sighing, “Poor babies!” in sarcastic undertones, but hear me out, this is all about service and helping people and setting up a trusting reliable relationship with a community. But in January we will be out of the village for over two weeks and its making people have ‘village guilt’. In other news, I have 300 pages left in War and Peace, which I will be happy to have under my belt. If you ever have some time on your hands it really is a good read and a classic for a reason. Also, after 4 ½ months without having a mirror I bit the bullet and bought a small face mirror. It kind of started as a social experiment to see how life would be without ever looking at yourself. It has been really interesting and I find that now that I have a mirror I don’t even use it. It has been, I think, a growing experience, and really interesting to find out all that relates with looking to a mirror. On that note I am going to sign out, Christmas vaca to Malawi starts tomorrow and it should be a bittersweet trip. More to come on that. Happy holidays too all and much love!

Cloudy with a chance of Termites

Cloudy with a chance of Termites

So as of late the rains have begun. We had heard tales of the rainy season while still in training and I must say they haven’t quite yet lived up to the hype in the sense they were talked about, however they are suppose to continue on until march or April so I have a feeling that they will. The one thing that they didn’t tell us about the rainy season, although now thinking about it, it is pretty self-explanatory, is the very fast explosion of and super sized quality of life. In every way; plants, foods, and bugs. I have never seen bigger bugs in my life, sometimes, like when you are passing by them quickly on your bike they are really cool; however other times, like when sitting by yourself in your hut at night, extremely scary! On this fine Saturday night I had just finished up a long but great day, I had gone on a 65km bike ride that day, made a good dinner, and was just sitting down to eat it when I started hearing light thuds. I looked around, thinking that it was rain at first, but realized that sound wasn’t coming from outside so it could not be rain. I started to feel things bounce off me once in a while as well. It was dark, I had a candle lit but you can’t see too much outside of its ring of light, so I picked it up and began to look around for the leak or whatever was falling from my ceiling. It was soon discovered that hundreds of millions of termites were hatching in my thatched, grass, roof and dropping to the floor. For a little over the next two hours I was battling these small and disgusting bugs which were dropping from everywhere, including onto/into my head/hair. Needless to say this turned into what a friend and I joking call a ‘bi-polar’ Peace Corps day. Where you are on cloud 9, life couldn’t be better, and then a small bump in the rails totally derails you into complete devastation. Lets just say there are a lot of emotions going on here daily. The next morning I woke up to new lines of termite tunnels running up most of my walls; including one that started where my pillow ended. Yes, one had landed in my hair and crawled out and started a tunnel. Next to my pillow. I was a very close to throwing up. I battled the termites for the next month, trying to explain to my family on the compound the extent in which my termite problem had gotten. No one thought it was a big deal, as my house was quickly being taken over and my walls and starting to build on the floor. It is not a fun feeling to not feel comfortable or welcome in your own home. It makes one a bit miserable actually. However after phone calls, research, and my host parents coming into my home things started to turn around. And now I have just the imprints and holes in my walls left from the termites. However I have to keep it up with chemicals and poisons to make sure they don’t come back because they and very disgusting as well as persistent.
In more resent news. I have just gotten over malaria, which stunk. But as with most thing that cause pain as soon as you start feeling better, you seem to begin forgetting the pain. But it was painful and I will be using much more bug spray than I was before! Thank you to all of those who have sent emails, or facebook messages of support. It was really, really appreciated, because it was tough being sick by yourself. But on to happier topics I will be spending the Christmas holiday in Nkhata Bay, Malawi on lake Malawi, google it if you like, with friends here in Zambia. I am very, very excited and will be leaving next week. Also Friday marks the end of my community entry, which means that I will be able to leave my district, mine being Mkushi. I will also be able to start working! Holding meetings, programs, and workshops. This is a great step and a fun time filled with opportunity.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Long time no see

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted anything, life has been moving lightening fast in this slow country, don’t really understand it, but it is how its been going, so I guess I just have to run with it. I am now living in my Village, it is 8/9km out side of the “town” Chalata, where I do most of my work. I help out around the Rural Health Clinic there. I am starting to try my hand at bee keeping, teaching nutrition in the schools, work with a women’s group, and I’m helping start a pre-school with one of the head mean (appointed by the Chief in the area, like a mini governor). He has built a structure, and has a board that is willing to do anything, its really exhilarating to have hard working, excited group of people to work with and will use me to help them! More projects are in the works, but during community entry (the first 3 months in the village) you are not allowed/suppose to start and projects or get involved in any. Once those three months are up, my intake will travel to Lusaka for a week to get more training on the more specifics that we want to work on in our communities. This time is meant for you to meet everyone in you area, introduce yourself to the schools, Head Men, Chief, look for and weigh what your community wants vs its needs. But needless to say it is a busy, overwhelming, and extremely tiring at times. Especially with the whole language difference, in almost every instance I deal with, it makes things interesting. Over all though, I am really happy here and loving it. I feel so much cooler than Sarah Palin (always, But) I can say that I can se the Democratic Republic of Congo from my backyard she only has the joke of seeing Russia and that’s over water, not me!
I cut my hair this week, yes it will grow back, yes I have started growing it back, I started the moment the ponytail hit the floor. Its chin length, it makes me look 12, but I am going to donate the hair to ‘Locks of Love’. A non-profit that makes wigs for cancer patients. There was something therapeutic about doing it. Like all the old shit in my life: stress, worries, pettiness, anxiety is gone; and I’m starting fresh. No split ends, no dryness from a blow dryer, or strengthener, no fake reminisce of highlights (I have gotten my hair highlighted with natural blond streaks twice in my life once in Oct 2007 the other time Jan 2009) now you would never know, cause anything that was left is in that ponytail on my floor. I don’t think Bill (my horrible rat) will try to eat it. It’s a nice change though and so much easier, faster, and uses 100% less water to wash. I can still pull it back out of my face too so that’s good.
I want to take a moment to thank EVERYONE for the birthday wishes, cards, cds, candy, est. It made me feel above and beyond special! My address has changed since I have moved to my village. So things are trickling in that got sent to Lusaka after I moved. However not to worry, everything will still get to me no matter where you sent it, people bring the Lusaka mail up whenever there is business that brings them up the Great North Road. But it is faster for you to send things to my new address, which is:
Miss Elizabeth Otter/ PCV
P.O. Box 480038
Mkushi, Zambia
Africa
Mkushi is the BOMA that I live closest too. BOMA is some acronym that the Brits made up when Zambia was still a territory. That signifies a town where organizations, Brit Offices, post office and bank are, now there are also Ministry of _________’s there too (ie education, health, agriculture, fisheries, est.). They kind of remind me of a ghost town though for some reason. I think that’s what they look like to a person before they are explored and you discover the vast treasures to be found there. Last week I found Challah bread!! At some side stall in the market! The Bamaayo (woman) who sold it to me had no idea why I was so excited, just another reason to think I’m weird I suppose. Not as if people really ever needed more reasons. I am pretty sure from here on out I will be writing and updating more from now on, now that I am settled and have all the I’s dotted and t’s crossed that I possibly can at this time. Maybe the internet will be fast enough to upload some pictures some time. We shall see! Thank you all for your interest and support. It means the world to me. Be well, act and lead with your reason, and a bit of

Saturday, August 29, 2009

grapevine fires

I don’t know how many people are friendly with the song by Death Cab for Cutie “Grapevine Fire’s” (you will be transfered to the YouTube video if you click on the title of today's blog, which is really a link, so look up and click), but I find myself singing it to myself while biking at least once a day. My bike ride to my classes, although only a little over 4km, is what I like to call extreme mountain biking. It’s through two streams, a 2 foot down/up hill gap (mini valley) in the earth and down and then up a big hill or small mountain. See this time of year in Zambia is very windy, dry, all while it is getting warmer each day. It is the time of year that farmers begin to get their fields ready before the rainy season. With these points in mind, along with the fact that no one is really quite sure why, it’s also the time of the year that every house hold in the country loves to burn the grasses around their houses, fields, or anywhere really. Some people say that they do it so in case there really was a fire their houses would be safe. Mud walls + Grass roof + fire = no house (bad news). Others say that the grasses are burned as a kind of fertilizer for the earth, and lastly to find, kill, catch to eat the mice that are in the fields. But alas, as I bike to and from the training center over looking the beautiful countryside that was just burnt or is still smoking; I cannot help but put the images I see to the music that I can most relate to this time.

Little Elishaba was really sick with the flu last week. Just today (Tuesday 8/25) after a full week of not being able to hold anything down (or in (Oh and no diapers are used here, not even the cloth kind, that’s a luxury that can not be afforded. If you are thinking messy, you are right)). As most of you know who are reading this, it’s really scary when a baby’s sick. They can’t tell you what’s wrong, it’s hard to relive them from any pain that they are in, and its hard not to feel helpless when they cannot keep anything down!

But even scarier for me, was the fact that we have been covering Under-5 care the past week, and have been preached to by Peace Corps, how the greatest cause of mortality in U-5 is diarrhea leading to dehydration. Needless to say watching her become weaker and weaker was hard for me. My host parents kept asking me questions about what they should do, or what I thought might be the issue since I am a health volunteer. But I had no idea what to do seeing that I have never had a child before and Bamaayo and Batata have had four. I couldn’t help thinking that I have only babysat for families of four, so it was a bit different, and they knew a bit more about what to do than me. It was also kind of hard not to say or tell them to just give her some children’s Tylenol, which does not exist here. Woops.

I was able to offer dehydration salts, but they had their own, and were in the process of using them. I hate feeling helpless and always try to be as proactive as I can be, so you can assume that this was a hard experience for me, however I couldn’t help looking at it as a valuable learning experience since I am going to be coming across situations like this more times than not in the next few years. There are going to be many times that I am not going to be able to act in the helpful manor I may think best because of a lack of education, clauses in my Peace Corps contract, and the fact that helping one family in a special way in the village would be equivalent to opening Pandora’s box. So since this story has a happy ending, and I am still in training, I am taking this baby sickness as a good thing; because it is one thing to be told that I must be hands off as a volunteer, or feeling helpless at times, but a totally different thing to experience it.

Did you know that I am a hair dresser? Me either, but I am now the July 2009 RAP/CHIP intake official go to hair cutter. Today marked my fourth successful hair cut (I am getting better with each one)! I have given one girl with hair the length to her mid-back a smashing fo-hawk (mini Mohawk), another girl with shoulder length hair a peter-pan-ish hair cut, a boring dude hair cut to a dude, and a cute angled bobb to another girl with shoulder length hair. Please don’t worry, each person asked for the style they received, there have been no tears, and I have gotten many requests to other people’s hair once we get back from out second site visit. Oh and I found out that I am going to Central Prov! Bordering the Northern Prov, and the DRC. See you all in a week!

Saturday, August 22, 2009

The Joy of Cooking (I hope you are thinking of the huge Ugly orange Betty Croker book too!)

Never has making a little kid throw up made me so happy.

Not the first line you were expecting, was it? And for the record, I don’t think I have ever made any little kids throw up before. Tonight I made dinner for my host family. I wanted to make something that was true blood American through and through. I also wanted to do something that a PVT had never made before, that meant that pizza was out or “Peter” as my host mom and dad so endearingly call it. However, it had to be easy enough so that I could make it over a wood fire, so no oven, used no more than one pot/pan. Lastly it had to be something we could eat with our hands since my family owns two forks, two spoons, one butter knife, and one sharp cutting knife. The answer to what to make may be obvious to some; sadly it took me almost two weeks to think it up.

The answer . . . Cheeseburgers! Only my Bamaayo (host mother) had ever heard of them before, and that was after I had explained to her what they were. So I made the exciting 45km trip to Lusaka in order to pick up all that was needed. While at the grocery store I ran into many moral issues such as: do I buy the tide and true condiments that give hamburgers and cheeseburgers there flair and messy awesomeness? While knowing all along that they need to be refrigerated after opening, meaning that they will go bad very fast since we have no such thing to keep them cold, making them a waste of money? Also new foods are scary enough as it is. Why make it harder burdening these poor people with the choice or adding ketchup or mustered? I mean come on, do you remember the first time you had sushi? Frightening. It took me so long to eat my first roll. The issue of if the food would be too rich came across my mind as well; I didn’t want to make anyone sick, thus giving me a bad name as a cook and ruining burgers for them forever! See, we eat the same bland thing every night umbwali (corn meal and water made so thick you can (and do) roll it into a little ball, imprinting your thumb into it, then using it to scoop whatever “relish” you are eating that night (cut up greens or cabbage, with either soya pieces, a kind of salty potato like bush root, or maybe beans) up with it and your thumb). Our two seasonings used are salt and cups of oil. So you can see my concern. Last but not least, they asked for “peter” and I told them no, that I would make it some other weekend, that I wanted them to try something new first. So I was going against what they wanted, making something greasy out of two things the hardly ever eat, red meat and dairy, and to top it off not even giving them the full experience (no condiments and no lettuce or pickles).

As they watched me start to make the burgers I could tell that they were all pretty nervous, and I was too. I was cooking three patties at a time for the nine of us, on a frying pan. I was sitting on a small three legged stool, and each time I flipped a burger I would burn my legs since I was A) using a fork to flip the patties B) the grease was building up in the pan bouncing onto me, and C) I had to startle the frying pan/ fire. Job (10) doesn’t eat meat, so I made him a grilled cheese. Finally, after toasting the buns, adding tomato and onion, they were ready, and I was forced to let my burgers speak for themselves and soon everyone was eating in a content silence. What I consider a sign of a good meal. Sadly I forgot to put out the chips I bought with the burger, but they were a welcomed surprise when they were done eating. Bertha, my 18-year-old cousin, was so excited when she saw them she ran out of the kitchen. Two medium sized bags were gone before I put set them down on the ground.

Next and last stop was dessert, S’mores! I mean come on, who doesn’t love s’mores? Well Mulolo (3) found out that he does not like marshmallows, it was everyone’s first time trying those too. But he loved the chocolate the Tennis Biscuits, which are so amazing! They were my substitute for gram crackers. They are delicious biscuit/ cracker that is honey and coconut flavored, but not over powering. I wish they had them in the states! Well in my mitts of the s’more excitement, and Mulolo probably on his first sugar high, was jumping up and down and giggling. It was the cutest thing . . . until he threw up some of his chocolate. Woops. This made everyone laugh, it was quickly cleaned up; and God love him, Mulolo rallied right back, and continued jumping up and down. All in all I must say that cheeseburger and s’more night was a great success and if it was not so much money, I would make a special dinner every week. But alas, I am living on a volunteer’s salary, so I will only be able to do one other dinner. I’m thinking, “peter”.

Sunday, August 16, 2009




1st picture is of my Bamaayo, and my baby sister (10 mo yesterday) out in our yard, Elishaba obviously was getting a bath! She is so cute, and no longer scared of me, which is awesome! 2nd is after dinner the other night. THis is our kitchen. we eat around the wood burning fire. I am always so impressed with the fact that they can cook over it! I think i would just burn everything! 3rd. This is part of the Compound I live at, to the left is the families hut, and behind is part of a field that the farm. To the right is my 'cousin's' hut. I am standing outside of my hut but they all pretty much look the same, some are just smaller than others.

I am going to make my family dinner to night . . . Cheeseburger's and chips and S'Mores for dessert. They have never even heard of hamburgers before, so i am excited and will let you know how it goes!



Why hello there!

Muli Shani!

That is “How are you doing?” in Bemba; the language that I am learning here in Zambia. I suppose saying that I am learning is an understatement, its more accurately being shoved down my throat. I have 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 hours of language training a day, not to mention I am living with a family who’s first language is Bemba. They are such wonderful people, but more about that in a few minutes!

Well, I have made it to Zambia all right. After being thrown into a group of 42, a few ice breakers, hours of paper work, some flip chart presentations, and of course a few more shots (vaccines, not alcohol); Peace Corps head quarters in DC felt we were finally able to leave and become part of PCZ (Peace Corps Zambia (and I thought that TFA (Teach For America) had a thing for acronyms, they have nothing on Peace Corps or so it feels!)). On my 18.5 hour flight to Jo-burg my new best friend and I really became close, Ambein. I am never going to travel long distances without it ever again!

To be perfectly honest the first few days were all a blur, I was assigned a roommate to stay with the first few nights. She was nice, she is in the other group (there are two groups with in the one big group, myself in CHIP (Community Heath Interactive Partnership) and RAP. I’m not really sure what it stands for but I know that they are working on building fish ponds within their assigned communities (which we don’t know yet) and teaching the people of the community how to keep them up and sell their profits. It’s all about Sustainable Development. This is the first time I am typing these words for this blog, but here is a little warning: It’s not going to be the last. That is our over all, end all job; to create Sustainable Development everywhere we go.

After Being in country for about 2 days, we were split up into groups of 5 or 6 within our trainee programs and left for our first site visit. We were told that the province that we went to for our first site visit was not going to be where we ended up. I went to Eastern. It was beautiful and wonderful, and gave me a great opportunity to get to know 5 people very well. To be honest, I really didn’t need to know one man so well, but was forced too, since his snoring at night left me no choice but to stare at top of the tent and think about how great I would be, not to mention how much better I would be sleeping, if there was not someone one sleeping bag down from me snoring at a disable level above and beyond a screaming police car. I really wish I was exaggerating right now. I’m not. However, the site visit give me a look into what the next two years are going to hold for me. The kind of house I will be living in, where I will be cooking my meals, how I will be getting my water (a bore hole), where I will bathe (behind a reed fence with a plastic bucket full of water I have warmed up over the fire), where I will be going to the bathroom (a hole about 4.5 inches in dynamiter in a cement hut), and the kind of work I will be doing. And to tell ya’ll the truth. I came back from that site visit more excited and ready to start the next two years then I was building up to my departure.

I am so excited and happy to be here. I feel so at home and free. After returning from our first site visit we were introduced to the language we would be learning. Which was actually a big deal because it splits the groups up further. It begins to give you an idea of A. where you will be going within the country (if not where you are going, depending on the language) and B. who your neighbor’s (in a the relative sense of the word) can/ will be. However, since I am a Bemba, there are three different provinces that I could be going too, so us Bemba’s don’t know where we will be going yet, but should with in the next 2 weeks or so.

Now you have a very brief over view of the beginning of my life as a PCT (peace corp trainee, since I will not be a PCV until swear in on Sept 25), and now that I have re started this blog, it is only going to be easier and faster for me to update. My goal is once a week, for a while at least. I have been listening to the mix my sister Julie made me while writing tonight. It’s real nice.

Oh and Remember if anyone would like to send me mix CD’s or Favorite Albums of any kind of music I would love it!

Shalinipo!

(Stay Well)

Friday, July 17, 2009

Getting ready to ship out

Below you will find my Address, as well as some other information about my next 6 months! Enjoy!

Dear Prospective Volunteer: Please give this letter to your family and/or friends and

ask them to hold on to it for as long as you are in Zambia.

July 2009

Dear Families and Friends,

Greetings from the Zambia Desk at the Peace Corps in Washington, D.C. It is with great pleasure that we welcome you to the Peace Corps circle of friendship. We receive many questions from family members and friends about life in Swaziland over the course of the Volunteer’s two years of service, so we would like to offer you advice and assistance in advance.

1. Irregular Communication. (Please see #3 for the mailing address to Peace Corps' office in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia) Mail in Zambia is fairly reliable. Volunteers find they generally receive mail and packages from the United States two to four weeks after it has been sent. The same is true in sending mail from Zambia. Of course, there are exceptional cases in which a letter or a package might arrive within a shorter period or be substantially delayed. Some mail may simply not arrive. We suggest that in your first letters you ask the Volunteer to give an estimate of how long it takes for him/her to receive your letters, and then try to establish a predictable pattern of how often you will write to each other. Also, try numbering your letters so that the Volunteer knows if he/she has missed one.

Being a Peace Corps Volunteer is a rewarding experience; however, there will also be times that Volunteers will feel frustrated and they may write home telling of their "war" stories. Letters might describe recent illnesses, frustration with work, lack of resources, information, and infrastructure, etc. While the subject matter may be good reading material, it can often be misinterpreted on the home front. Volunteers have a support network in country, which includes other Peace Corps Volunteers, counterparts and community members at their site, as well as Peace Corps/Zambia staff. The Peace Corps’ highest priority is maintaining the good health and safety of every Volunteer. Peace Corps/Zambia maintains a medical unit with full-time medical officers, who provide for the Volunteers’ primary health care needs. Additional medical services, such as testing and basic treatments, are available in Zambia and in South Africa. If the Volunteer is seriously ill, they will be transported to South Africa or to the United States.

If for some reason your communication pattern is broken and you do not hear from your family member, you may want to contact the Zambia Desk or the Office of Special Services (OSS) at Peace Corps Washington at 1-800-424-8580, extension 1470. Also, in the case of an emergency at home (death in the family, sudden illness, etc.), please do not hesitate to call OSS immediately, so that a message can be sent to the Volunteer. Use the above number during regular business hours (9:00 am to 5:00 pm Eastern time, Monday through Friday). After hours, or during weekends, the Peace Corps Duty Officer may be reached at (202) 692-1470. Tell the operator your name, telephone number, and the nature of the emergency, and the Duty Officer will call you back.

2. Telephone Calls. Telephone lines in Zambia are fairly reliable. During the pre-service training though, opportunities for the trainees to call the United States will be limited. Most Volunteers purchase cell phones. Volunteers may or may not have residential phones; however, some Volunteers, use public phones, or find that a neighbor or the organization they work with has a phone they are able to use to make and receive calls. They will be able to inform you of telephone numbers where you might reach them once they arrive at their permanent sites.

The Zambia Desk maintains regular contact with the Peace Corps office in Lusaka through phone calls and e-mail. However, these communications are reserved for business only and cannot be used to relay personal messages. All communication between family members and the Volunteer should be done via international mail, personal phone calls, or e-mail. Volunteers may have access to e-mail at Internet cafes on a weekly or monthly basis, depending on their location.

3. Sending packages. Parents and Volunteers like to send and receive care packages through the mail. Unfortunately, sending packages can be a frustrating experience for all involved due to occasional thefts and customs taxes. You may want to try to send inexpensive items through the mail, but there is no guarantee that these items will arrive. Even though many Volunteers choose to get local post office boxes, you may also use the following address to send letters and/or packages:

Name of Volunteer, PCV

Peace Corps

P.O. Box 50707

Lusaka, Zambia

It is recommended that packages be sent in padded envelopes if possible, as boxes tend to be taxed more frequently. For lightweight but important items (e.g. airline tickets), DHL (an express mail service) does operate in Lusaka. If you choose to send items through DHL, you must address the package to the Country Director, c/o U. S. Peace Corps/Zambia, 71A Kabulonga Road, Kabulonga, Lusaka, Zambia (the phone number for the Peace Corps office in Zambia is 260-21-1260377, as DHL will need this information). If you send the item to the Country Director, no liability can be assumed. For more information about DHL, please call their toll free number, 1-800-CALL-DHL, or visit their web site at www.dhl.com . Other courier services do operate in Lusaka - DHL is only one possibility.

We hope this information is helpful to you during the time your family member or friend is serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Swaziland. We understand how frustrating it is to communicate with your family member overseas and we appreciate your using this information as a guideline. Please feel free to contact us at the Zambia Desk in Washington, D.C. if you have any further questions. Our phone numbers are 1-800-424-8580, ext. 2333/2334, or locally, 202-692-2333/2334.

Sunday, May 10, 2009


Travel poems and dealing

Nowhereville, Florida USA

Small town America expanding

and contracting in time with

the seasons as if it were a screaming

heaving child's belly; rising and falling

with each dramatic breath taken.

Spanish moss dripping over each branch

causing a second—lower sky to form

dancing over the beach on a jet blue day.

The moss allows us to use our imaginations

taking us back in time to the days before:

before settelers or technology or problems.

All day long we lie there head to head

staring at the different shapes and lengths

of the moss and watch it dance in the breeze

as we tell each other stories, about the day

that we will leave this small town.

. . . And if you want to be free, be Free. Things I do, and think about.