wearing daisy dukes and flirting. eating a bowl of cherries. gold heart shaped locket around your necks. your thick curly hair running down your back. listening to 70s vintage music. taking a drag of a cigarette. sitting in a chair on your balcony and soaking up the sun.
washing your feet in a rose water filled bathtub. eating spoonfuls of honey. rosey and blushed cheeks. pearls and gold. writing in cursive. eating raspberries and strawberries. wearing white chiffon dresses.
time spent at your grandmothers home. she has gifted you all her gold jewelry in hopes you pass it down to your family. your long curly black hair once resembled hers back in the day. your cheeks are rosy and lips glossy. she has the virgin Mary and various religion decoration in her living room. she kisses your forehead and the two of you look through old photo albums
wild curly hair smelling of citrus and love. wearing floral printed dresses. motherly and tender. the colorful fruits in your kitchen remind you of your home country. thick gold earrings dangle from your ears. you dance samba with your little girl.
uncles slamming dominos on the table. almost everyone has on a gold cuban link. your great aunt is in the kitchen frying plaintains. corn, and steaks are on the grill. all the classics from the 90s, 80s and 70s are on the speaker blasting. box braids and curls. fruit punch with alcohol. women talking while chubby babies sit on their lap. there is no occasion, just celebrating another day.
“Far from your garden the evening burns gold incense in scarlet flames behind the copper and ashen woods.
[…] The water of the stone fountain never stops laughing over the white shell.”
— Antonio Machado, from “Garden,” Border of a Dream: Selected Poems, transl. by Willis Barnstone (Copper Canyon Press, 2003)
summers in greece. hiking up rocky mountains. bathing in the greek waters. eating pistachio and blue moon ice cream. rubbing orange blossom oil on your skin. sheets hanging on the clothesline. glass pitchers of water and lemon slices. gold bracelets. the scenery just as breathtaking in photographs.
