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A Terra Cotta Hiding Place

John SimmerlingFebruary 4, 20122 min read

Here is your chance
Cartagena or Quito
LaPaz, Cuzco, Ushuaia
Brazil or Costa Rica or Panama
It doesn’t matter

You’ll get chiles and sunsets and surf
And terra cotta hiding places
and an escape
Out of your stupid kitchen
and heartache and sadness and noise

Put your fingers in your ears
Open your eyes and be who you are
Strawberry gringa
Dreamer, comic, artist
Woman 

It's four times ten
chasing you back from infinity
So run

From the traffic in your head
From the toll of existence

Don’t you feel it?
Distant thunder and green-lit skies
electric air
They’re your storms and they’re chasing you down
And you’re just wishing them back

Escapa, mi hermana

Run through the sand
Beautiful in the afternoon sun
Your hair and your freckles
Streaming in the wind

Play cat gut guitar
y canta de la vida dulce

Feel it now
the breeze on your cheek
the sun on your shoulders
the soul in yourself

Drink some tequila and be free
hold someone's hand y sabe el amor
dream in a new language
and listen to la gente 
dice tu nombre 

Because there
in your land of escape
you’re the you I know
The you you know
el verdadero tú

But if you can’t escape yet
I can close my eyes and see you there

Y para alla, mi hermana, te amo  

terra cottaescapesunsetstravel

John Simmerling

Writer, poet, and artist. Exploring family stories, grief, love, and the small moments that shape who we are. Drawings from my mind.

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