kinetic shiela joon
Please look at this quintessential photo of my freind Shiela. We met in Seattle when she was but a young sprite of fourteen. I met her reading poetry at a place called the Penny University, now no longer in existance. I continued to see her at readings for the next few years, usually with her older brother, a wicked slam poet. We got pretty close. We realized that we both liked the smell of armpits, and we would regularly smell each other's armpits. Sound funny? Hers smell divine. Sort of like spicy molasses.
Anyway, she left town to go to school in Bellingham. She's studying theater, a natural profession for her. She invited me up to Bellingham to a dinner a few months ago and we rekindled our friendship, finding it to be ever stronger as real grown-ups. I am always newly amazed at her courage and capacity to love and learn from her mistakes. This is my online tribute to her.