blackgirl on mars: notes on a life in copenhagen (or how my alienation brings me closer to people).

a room of her own...and a couple of cars too... the old woman told her once to only wish it and it will come. the old woman once said to her that it is magic all of it and there are some who understand. she said that i will understand. she said it has something to do with the way i like to eat my food out of the pot. or how i sweep the house, letting all the spiders be. she said, that if i am quiet enough, it will all come to me. and that most of all, i need to be careful. careful for what i wished for, because whatever it was, i would get it.  Yesterday I met up with a friend for coffee. Well, not coffee, but more for a walk. We met in Christianshavn and continued our journey into the freetown of Christiania. There we ate cake and talked. It is cold, although it is late March. The sun shines, however, and sparks hope. My friend just filed his divorce papers. He feels good. He was married for over 20 something years! They met when they were in their early 20s. They now have ...

bandit dresses for bandit girls... When my friend's little girl looked up at me the other day, and asked, "Lesley, can you knit me a dress? A dark blue one?" I just knew that I had gotten the wind of inspiration needed to begin another creation. I love knitting and crocheting. Although there is not much Danish-spun yarn (someone even told me there were none left! the horror!) quality, natural, homespun yarns abound in this city. [interruption] my phone rings. it's Paulette! Paulette: Hi, Miss Lesley-Ann Me: Hi Paulette! (very enthusiastically, haven't spoken to Ms. P for a while. Ms. P is a fellow Flatbush girl, who also had a childhood shared between sweltering Caribbean heat and the gray of Brooklyn sidewalks.) Paulette: Hi Miss Lesley-Ann, I'm calling to invite you to X's confirmation... (we both laugh. we both know my aversion to organized functions...) Paulette: But X asked if you would be there-- this changes the situation immediately. ...

It takes the time it takes.  that is all. it matters not  what its size big  or small It takes the time  it takes that is all it matters  not which one or all walk or  crawl.  Is all.  It takes the time it takes,  that is all no  creature  too big nor  small is all fly fall.

Today is the first day of a much-needed break --which means time to get some more work done! I'll meet my friend G later today for coffee. I haven't seen G for a minute, he's a half-American, half-Danish illustrator. I've been cultivating a creative camaraderie with him over the many years of being here--he's always happy to answer whatever questions regarding Danish life I may have. Later today is all about organizing and continuing on a translation job I am currently working on. I've probably mentioned it before, but it's written by an Iranian writer here, in Danish, about 3 generations growing up in Iran before, during and after the Iranian Revolution. What I love about it is that it gives me a much better understanding of what has occurred there, in much the same way Satrapi's Persepolis does. I love translating. I find it to be like putting together a puzzle, of some sorts. I love words, and it is no accident that I have fallen in love with s...

blackgirl on mars: 100% hemp, 100% bandit!  Although I am not allowed to have any pets in my building, I have ended up with bobcat. bobcat is my colleague's cat, and I have looked after him once before, in a colony garden house not too far from Christiania, which happens to be not too far from where I live. Colony garden houses are these communities of garden homes, occupied in the summer, for city occupants to get a bit of country living--not too far from the city, of course. It's an excellent idea, and scoring a colony garden house is considered a find. My friend Jane, an artist/filmmaker, redid hers years ago, with her partner C. Their colony garden district had received permission to use the houses for year-round living. Most colony garden houses are strictly for summer use, although many are seeking and being granted, permission to live there year-round. Anyway, bobycat didn't have any one to look after him, not too mention that his owners are finding him a b...

NYC Cool 2010  I've been writing a lot more than posting, lately. I have so much to say, so much to write about, but I don't want to go too fast--don't want to spoil it. It's like for every day that goes by, I understand on a profound level, why I am where I am. Although it's snowing outside, I am feeling an inner warmth I had been, until now, unable to really connect with this winter. This has been a difficult winter. But I suppose difficult in only the way not being able to do anything, can be. I often wonder how equipped am I, really, to live in this part of the world? I look down at my skin, and my melanin betrays me: Not enough sunlight and the depression sets in. In the winter, there are days where we get about 3 days of sunlight. Not to mention that in general, the skies are grey and sun, it seems, enjoys hiding behind the clouds. Sun salons abound, but let's face it, I think it's a silly concept.  All of this is just proof that I am not whe...

  summer bee 2011   The Elephant is Slow to Mate by D.H. Lawrence The elephant, the huge old beast, is slow to mate; he finds a female, they show no haste they wait for the sympathy in their vast shy hearts slowly, slowly to rouse as they loiter along the river-beds and drink and browse and dash in panic through the brake of forest with the herd, and sleep in massive silence, and wake together, without a word. So slowly the great hot elephant hearts grow full of desire, and the great beasts mate in secret at last, hiding their fire. Oldest they are and the wisest of beasts so they know at last how to wait for the loneliest of feasts for the full repast. They do not snatch, they do not tear; their massive blood moves as the moon-tides, near, more near till they touch in flood.