End(less)

I often forget the feeling of being on the island
Its funny how paradise makes life feel perfect.                                               
Escape is the secret behind every vacation...
until you return home and reality caves in on the little joys you once soaked in.

Sometimes, when I look at Blue, I see the ocean, in all of its extraordinary perfection.
A reflection of purity and depth,
my Absolute necessity for survival
But there is no such thing as a perfect man. A perfect life.                              reality transcends dream
At times my boat is rocked by his seas
storms thunder // waves swallow me //
but it is him who comes to the rescue- breathes air into my lungs.

What is perfection, anyways?
I'm no Princess, there is no wonderland, and Charming...such childish nonsense
Love is not a storybook
it is real, it is hard, it is now & it is mine                                                                    
                                                                                                                        What lasts forever?
   

This was a love story from the start.
Am I gross with clichés?
"Look at me, I'm in love, I'm in love!"



Will,

I love the way you love me, I think it's perfect. 
I'd even face my terrors of scuba diving again if it meant more paradise with you.

I hope this lasts forever. 

-Rachel

are you & I enough?

I thought "I never wanted to leave"
The simplicity of life was invigorating
No complications, no stress
                                                                           just me & you 
My hair tied back in a salty ponytail
Recycled t-shirts and flip flops
It was the striking absence of a material culture
An embodiment of my mother's echo throughout my childhood,
"But do you need it?" she would say

There was an intense appreciation for life, for Earth
I was poisoned by the passion of the natives

But could I live this  {    isolated    }  life?
Thousands of miles into nowhere
Away from my objects, goals, dreams & desires?
The place of my created reality                                              are you & I enough?
Could I Remain Invisible?

I fear the absence of myself in the world. Being forgotten.
A compelling fear of death
An intense aversion for the vast unknown...
I had to leave...we had to leave.

"They fall through the gray matter, the grid, into the undifferentiated..." -Deleuze and Guattari

Can you see?

10ft Above Sea Level

Blue and I stood at the mouth of the cave.

I wished everyone could see this view;

Green hills rolling into white sand fading into those magnificent endless blues

Elly Williston would certainly never see it.

How could anyone hate the ocean?

                                                           

13ft Below Sea Level

In the cave

We trekked down deeper &

D

         E

                  E

                              P

                                       E

                                                      R

Into complete darkness

The sudden reliance on a small flashlight seemed unnatural

Or was it natural?

Blue’s light searched for my hand and he grabbed it tightly

The circular light shook nervously, bouncing as I scanned the orange lava rock, surprised by the graffiti. Rock walls a documented canvas of all who had been before.

Deeply carved revealing the white stone: "W.R.J. 1882"

Dirty, disintegrating bottles scattered an area below neon paint: “New Year Kids 1990”

initials  scat te re d

Hatchet Bay Caves, Eleuthera.
Photo Courtesy: http://velocir.com/2012/01/31/spanish-wells-hatchet-caves-governors-harbour/

“I wonder what’s happened down here?”                 

adventure, pain, lust, youth, fright?

When exposed to places or items of such great mystery, history,

I suddenly feel insignificant.

unknowing

unaware

B L I N D

25 ft below sea level

I stumbled on the rock.

the cursive name, Nadja was illuminated as I fell forward          into darkness

          He kissed me gently and I loved him

            who was he though? Who am I?

Or whom do I haunt?

            We wandered and he followed, “let’s go somewhere”

            Anywhere. I never know where. If I’m in here or out there.

            A dream? What’s in a dream?

“Tiny! Tiny! are you alright?”
I heard him, urgent

The white light was blinding



Incorporated Text: http://teachmeabouttexts.blogspot.com/2013/10/blog-post-1.html#comment-form

Bahamian Love

024°50’25”N 076°21’10”W

The name “Eleuthera” comes from the Greek word eleuthero,

“free”

My state of being.

Cape Eluethera, Bahamas

We drove 20 miles back up the long island, the eroded old jeep bumping violently over the dirt road.

The same only road it had ever traveled. The island highway.

I rested comfortably in the backseat, bobbing with the jerky movements, exhausted from the worship of sun, water and blues. Eyes lazy, heavy, dreaming, content, and open windows whipping crisp air through the car.

The Bahamian natives stared from their front porches;

Colorful, impoverish shacks on beachfront property.

Vibrant, kind, and curious eyes.

A tape quietly played reggae music

Cheerful, conscious, perfect. Could it be any other way?

Our friend narrates as we travel through towns;

“Everyone hitchhikes to get around…we all help each other”

Eleuthera had a love aura

It was unfamiliar, other worldly, like we were on a different planet

The overflowing peace discovered the best in us-that incandescent love aura

Blue turned from the front seat, 

“How ya doing back there, Tiny?”

                  -with that soul-seeing grin, illuminated by tanned skin

Better than I deserve.

Text: http://fsugirl7.blogspot.com

It’s beautiful here…

Can you see?

We are on the edge of a desert rock

Warmed by a tranquil Zeus; the sand is purely white
  F l u i d  , rich turquoise rises restlessly to its edge___
                                                                                                       Replenished 
by the intensifying indigo of an endless, limitless sea.
Far off, it is fused to a comparably boundless, azure sky
By weak and mortal eyes.
I am engulfed in the most magnificent shades of blue

My favorite shade varies, pleasing traces of grey and sometimes green.
The bluest of eyes,
                                  -stare-
out onto that ocean- and back at me.

In this moment,
Blue 

& I am entirely alive.



Did the image capture it?

My chills in the presence of such vast, superlative beauty?
The solace of his blues, breaking from Nature’s magic;    to love me

The smell of coconut sunblock soaked by thirsty skin,
transcending the saltiness of ocean air.
The absent “wow,” he breathed,
melodic to the harmonious crash of wave and rock.


My feet are uneven on the treacherous boulder
I have no fear,
If I jump

I would not  f
                         a
                             l
                                l


My body is transparent as the water, my soul is wild


A hand rests securely on my back as I balance with the camera...
"Look how high we are."

…snap