how to say this

It is complicated to articulate
a self that's changing, the in-process-being

It is hard to know this self because at any
one moment I could become something new

The something I thought I knew
informing a belief I was sure I had
suddenly dust cupped in my hands

And so

Now I am different than just a moment ago
and I worry that if I tell you who I am
right now, at this seemingly pivotal moment
you'll find me uncertain of certain things
and three minutes from now you'll find a liar

But you see, I'm holding these things sacred
and then wind or maybe it's the breath of God
blows on me and like wishing dandelions do
I vanish

To remain
as something new.

this year i think i finally get what all the palm fronds were about

hands press skirt
damply to knees knobby
and proper
waiting for the smoothing out
of life wrinkle run snag tear

somewhere along here
you said
or they said
the point is someone
promised

that if i counted to one hundred
every night and made ritual of floss prayer please thank you
my hair would shine
my teeth never rot
and my touch would turn to gold

three cavities and frizzy hair later
i wait
for light radiant touch on freckled soul
the lifting up, wiping off, kleenex giving
of a savior come

hosanna!
smooth save renew with spit on your thumb
and needle and thread
hosanna!
come soon

bre mcdaniel releases her first ep: hello starlight

hello starlight release party: an evening with bre

It was foggy-cold-dark on Railway St. in East Van, I couldn't find the place and had begun to rethink the whole plan, and then, in a window, an 8 x 11" poster reassured me: Hello Starlight. Tucked away in the same block where her brother Matthew lives (find him on her EP producing and playing various instruments), Anchor Guitar Studio was just the place for an evening of music (and a little magic).

I already knew that Bre had put a lot of time and love into her EP, and as the evening moved along it became clear that she had been equally loving in the creation of that night, the night that Hello Starlight was to enter the world.

covering Fleetwood Mac's Landslide

A little like story-time at the library when I was a kid, we gathered around, packing every nook of Anchor Guitar Studio, listening to Bre and her special guests (Matthew, Steph, Faith, Andrew, Jason Lowe, Josh and Sam) as they told us stories. 

It was an evening of friendship, running into old and meeting new. Brought together by our love of Bre, or a friend's cousin who once heard her play at Montmartre's, we chatted, laughed and listened away the hours.

The music carried the night as music tends to do, but it was the thoughtful choice of location, the group of friends coming together, and the casual touches of whimsy (because with Bre, there is always whimsy) that made it a night lovely for memory.

And now, a hint.

Support Bre by clicking Like on Facebook: Bre McDaniel and buying her EP Hello Starlight.

sisters

the moment after you cut ties
i began the wait for
faded sadness

but i feel you under my skin
today
just like then
when the sun-bright world
near killed me
(some compensation for light
lost?)

eyelid-thin is the distance
between us
and the years have nothing to say
that makes you further away
and waiting does not know how
to mend this chest-gap

so stay
under my skin
where you always liked to be
and we'll be
broken
but
never separate