Showing posts with label tradition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tradition. Show all posts

Sunday, October 31, 2021

Día de Muertos

Growing up, I visited this place nearly never: it was too dark, buried too many bones, sang of too much death for a spirited soul to appreciate; except on the day before All Hallows, when with rice, rum, coconut candies, Bachata music and belly laughs, my life would celebrate my blood.   

bare branches rustle
food and song in the graveyard—
to honor the dead


photo by Attila Lisinszky, on Unsplash

 - when I was a child, my Halloween season was full of papier-mâché and candies, of decked up crosses surrounded by candles, of the very young listening to the very old tell stories of departed souls. I miss those days… and lately, I have wondered if in my family this kind of celebration will end when I do. Sigh.

- for Poets and Storytellers United--Writers’ Pantry #94: Ends and New Beginnings.

Sunday, October 6, 2019

The Pink Knight

In my home, October is New York Comic Con. It’s knee-high boots and pumpkin chili. It’s stories of loved ones no longer living. It’s skulls, cosplay, and wonder. October is black.
I wasn’t thinking those exact words, as my Piano Man and I strolled around the Javits Center, but I was feeling them deeply. Then, a hint of pink caught my eye.
“Look, babe!” I said, picking a pink figurine out of a display, and holding it right next to my delighted grin. “It’s Batman, the breast cancer fairy.”

“That makes it sound like Batman brings breast cancer to people, and…” my Piano Man began to say, but seemed to change his mind halfway. “Well, I guess the tooth fairy takes teeth and leaves money. Maybe Batman takes tumors and leaves—”

“Life and laughter and bad-ass fairy dust?” I asked, gently shaking Batman above my head, making sure all the fighting dust landed on my chemo-thinned hair.

Then my Piano Man and I kissed, before adding The Pink Knight to our October.

In my home, October is New York Comic Con. It’s knee-high boots and pumpkin chili. It’s stories of loved ones no longer living. It’s skulls, cosplay, and wonder. October is black and pink and fierce.


Batman, the Breast Cancer Fairy
  bits from Instagram