{ Dashus:land }

Happy Birthday, Ariel.

Join me in celebrating Ariel by reading all of her amazing writing HERE. 
You can also shop her amazing vintage clothing online boutique -  OMG VINTAGE. 
It's full on hotness - just like her. xox.

the first time i ran away.

the bend

of my palm

contorted

backwards

a place we

never go

anymore

revealing calluses

the freedom

of sunday

to say

what you mean

and to

mean what you

say

a million

tiny

icicles

hit the floor

of the garage

when you closed

it

for the last time

and we drove south

forever

and did

(in fact)

look back

quite a bit.

- Ariel Quirolo.

~~All words and images are property of Ariel Quirolo~~

~~arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)~~

You were right about everything.

(stuttering
trolling around pastel suburbs
in bare feet
and gauzy dresses
I let the season rule me
bounce my heart ‘round the street
like a soccer ball)

Wisdom visits
(in her way)
Only to be replaced by pleasure
Wincing

When the wind kicks
(up and over)
Over and out
Watch some part of me disappear

Concentrate long enough
Open up to insanity
Make it make love to you
Everyone already thinks I am anyway

Honest
On my mothers wishes
Moderately cloaked in prayer
Everything I ever wanted

Is already there.

Around the corner. You drive. I’ll steer.
Making it go faster, making it

                       Better.

(I am now,

                by the way)

- Ariel Quirolo.

__________________________________

~~All words and images are property of Ariel Quirolo~~

~~arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)~~

Motion Lights.

I found out the hard way:
on the internet
(that cold, gaspless humanscape.)

images and sounds colliding
in perfect synchronicity...
believe it or not,
my heart is hardlycompletely broken.
just a little swollen,
from a poisonous sting.

with suction strong...
I will move on
(oh) earth
as I am in heaven.

there is too much noise in the house to sleep.
some one is having a fight
upstairs.

the motion-light outside my bedroom window
just found it’s shadow.

are you haunting me?
or is imagination replacing
the reality...
of what I could have.

~~All words and images are property of Ariel Quirolo~~

~~arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A note from Dashus: Ariel - It's good to have you back. We missed you. As always - your writing speaks volumes. xox. -S.

Writer's Block.

I am draftless

    you are drifting.

they are stagnant

    we are missing.

what difference does it make?

    why the defiance to take...

        on

            me?

a synapse. a second. (a certain sadness).

each Moment is becoming

a better place to: just Be.

as long as i continue

to persuade the present

regardless 

of current company...

(tip-toeing around 

like this is broken ground.)

i will take off--flying

Obedient only

to Sound

(though mostly broken beats, harps and strings).

and it will only hurt as much

     as the past still stings.

and I will remember you better

     by the words you didn’t sing.

- Ariel Quirolo.

~~All words and images are property of Ariel Quirolo~~

~~arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)~~

Me likie Lykke Li.

My friend Ariel featured the lovely Lykke Li on her site a while ago and I had been meaning to share her with all of you for a while but I kept forgetting. Lykke is featured below on what is called The Black Cab Sessions. You'll quickly see why. She is SOOOOO talented. Thank you Ariel for the heads up. xoxox.



Ooooooh & I'm totally loving this Stockholm street version that I came across tooooooooo....so yummy. I LOVE this chick. xx.

there is nothing. ground breaking. about this. so far.

i asked polite.
i asked twice.
i was taught that there was no shame in asking,
no harm in trying.
“you’ll only regret what you don’t do.”
and yet,
nothing.
no sign.
no whisper.
i am bound to obey the rules
diagnosed to me in perfect handwriting.
9’s never confused
for g’s...
hands always resting gently
on the knees.
there is not enough time in the world
to perform
the kind of autopsy required
for breaking this ground.

- Ariel Quirolo.

~~All words and images are property of Ariel Quirolo~~

~~arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)~~

A Poem...

to:
from:

my gift is too quiet
for you to ever miss
    (too much)
or to listen to
when the day gets long
or the sky gets cloudy.

my gift is deep in the silence
of unturned pages.
it’s often overshadowed
by the memory
of all our broken arrows
that missed though the ages.

my gift is giving me some bad dreams again
and making it hard to leave the house.
it’s taking it’s time.
it’s wearing me out.

my gift is unassuming
and only has this one wish…
to fix things.
the way it’s seen glue do--in a way that lasts.
a way that heals
not just like a band-aid
more like a cast.

- Ariel Quirolo.

~~All words and images are property of Ariel Quirolo~~

~~arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)~~

Word Wizard.

Happy Birthday to one of the most beautiful and talented people that I know! xox. Love you Ariel! Read all of her amazing poems that have been featured on this site HERE.

Indian in the Cupboard.

Some days it’s harder to be optimistic
(like this one)
Some days I land
And some days I miss it.
It has nothing to do with you.
And maybe less to do
with the who
I think I am
\
/
\
These are tears all over my glasses
These are prayers that go deep
into sleep
that is shallow.
I hope it passes.
I’ll know tomorrow...
More or less,
What lands first,
Is what qualifies as best.
Hurt is only there ‘cause you need it.
because I need it.
because the world is healing a bruise
left by dinosaurs
and too many wars
built by words said too late to take back.
Today I’m built like an Indian in a cupboard
Waiting to be picked up
And made real,
By a hand much bigger than myself.

- Ariel Quirolo.

~~All words and images are property of Ariel Quirolo~~

~~arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)~~

earthling.

Today is:
the first day
(on earth)
the first day
(in this body).
Opportunity is everywhere.
Language is empty.
after watching - carefully -
the way the heart administers
Life;
the exact precision with which blood pumps through it -
i open one eye
to feel the life that lives on outside this cage of flesh -
to find out how the ocean manages to vaporize enough to nuzzle against a mountain -
to experience the potentially of light reflected through each molecule and each atom -
to witness how words work to limit imagination but broaden understanding -
to realize that sitting is to flying what laughing is to crying
               except that living is not to dying what seeing is to blinding
because there is no such thing as death...just a loss of breath.

- Ariel Quirolo.

~~All words and images are property of Ariel Quirolo~~ 

~~arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)~~

 

this is getting serious

I have balanced out the figures in my head.
counted every quarter,
packed up every book you never read.
moved everything into Love.
the place is looking good.
I think we should...
but as you know,
Time will have it’s say
months will make way
into years
and then it’ll be closing time
For us
my dear
dear Husband,
        that you could have been.
        you waited too long.
        (a fate worse than sin)
        I am past ripe now
        and raw
        with introspection.
        you missed the flight,
        flew right through
        the intersection.
        there was only one fatality.
Us.

- Ariel Quirolo.

~~All words and images are property of Ariel Quirolo~~ 

~~arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)~~

avalanche.

 

Strange,

because I believe it.

is my future staring back at me?

(with eyes so light)

I never dreamed they would be

anything less

than what they are.

colors.

Kaleidoscope my heart

belongs in two

magnificent but changing patters.

I’m wide away at the wheel,

churning out letters to my whatevers 

who return to me like clockwork

every calendar year.

enjoying the mood 

so equally,

we never stop to undo a smile

(baby, you hurt my cheeks after a while)

lines snake 

and sounds quivers.

i

Hesitate;

and you are gone.

replaced only by something so close 

but never approaching silence 

or a song.

beneath each smile lives and avalanche of beauty marks and scars

that accumulate overtime and become the noise we call laughter.

you were never the thing I was after,

but I’m so glad you got in the way.

- Ariel Quirolo.

~~All words and images are property of Ariel Quirolo~~ 

~~arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)~~

Visitation Writes.

Imagination came home last night.
Late.
Just to visit.
I was not awake,
But still
(in the darkness)
I could hear it enter.
Sounded like aluminum foil touching fillings.
Reminded me that I need to get quarters for laundry in the morning.
Controlled my dream state and dictated a poem.
(Not this poem
That poem was in some other language
I will have to get it translated)

Before Imagination left,
it told me why it hardly ever comes around anymore:
Your brain is usually too full of your ideas...
There is no room left for me.
Seems like you are clearing out some space in there these days,
Soon enough things will be like they used to be.

My hair stood up from my arm,
there was an electrical storm in my belly.
And when I woke up today
I knew how Imagination knows
How to make itself grow
out of simple things like
Peanut butter
& Jelly.

- ariel quirolo.

~all words are property of ariel quirolo~
A note from Ariel: "Illustration is by my glorious, beautiful, imaginative friend jon marro. You should wear his shirts: blendapparel.com"   ---arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)---  

Natural Resources.

(These amazing rocks can be found here: http://mineralsciences.si.edu/)

so, today was not what your ordered.
maybe the meeting didn’t go how you planned.
it’s like you asked for sugar,
and got a bowl of sand.
So?
go with it.
continue where that last listless lingering lesson left off.
notice things.
begin to understand... and then not.
allow your imagination to run wild...
with out stop,
just
sometimes.
just be (the)
cause.
listen to each second of
a brief intermission.
leave alone
unexamined thought.
you are a beautiful gem stone
don’t let your self sink
like a rock

.ariel quirolo.

~all words and images are property of ariel quirolo~   ---arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)---    

House Guest.

I cant believe I haven’t written a poem about you yet.
how absent minded and absurd!
when you first got here,
            I knew you were more...
more than just a bird.
In a window.
stalking my stove.
I knew you were a part of me
(and visa versa...
                and vis a vis)
Love.
and lover of the sun-kissed air.
time marker and reminder of my own magnificence.
holding a fortune in each fold of your wings.
cooing at my silliness and inability to become as clear
as see-through things...
like crystals, poppies and egg shells.
but I’m getting there.
by thinking less and being more - still - so I can coax you
Dove:
isn’t a beautiful enough word to hold you.
and so,
I’ll only ever know you as God.

- ariel quirolo.

~all words and images  are property of ariel quirolo~

---arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)---

Friends in lovely places.

My friend Ariel has a site that I'm lovin' these days. Please DO check it out - HERE. It's so simple and beautiful and honest. xox.

if i was better.

one time i thought i made something of it.
but then some years past and i knew i was just cornering a building,
with very few lights left on.
maybe in park slope.
or carry town.
the differences between places can sometimes be:
 only smells.
when your face is pressed against brick,
and your toes are cold,
because flip flops are not appropriate foot ware for an early spring.
no body taught me that. i just learned it, along with other things
that common sense defies or inadequately defines.
i act like i don't care.
and sometimes i actually don't...
but mostly i do
and too much.
this is how the witch hunt starts.
like climbing up a ladder,
or leaning over a tar paper roof,
it's the heights of things that get to me
and ground me
like:
a relief
a map
a drop of syrup
after it's done being sap.
i would start to count on you,
if i was better at math.

- ariel quirolo.

~all words and images are property of ariel quirolo~

---arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)---

driving meditations

Never before have I forgiven so much so fast.
One sip of air later,
breathe first,
ask questions last...
          I’m driven
By some other source
I know
Is providing
The ropes. The reigns. The course.
All I have to do is stay on it.
Because this is the purest force
Of Nature. Of Love. Of God.

I’ve been given
this life
(and everything in it that I will ever need)
came before me...
it’s so easy to trust,
when there is no such thing as fear.
my mind is works effortlessly,
When I let go of the wheel...

- ariel quirolo.

~all words and images are property of ariel quirolo~

---arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)---

The other side of full pages...

Each page in here has and equal and an empty...
but words are truly thicker than forget,
and memories are made up of a handfuls I never fully wish to get broken from.
I take only as much as I can consume and besides...i don’t want more than I can carry.
MUSIC (luckily) weighs nothing.
And makes my mouth just as numb.
I think now, that I can stay alive a little bit longer,
Just enough to stroke each page as it should be nearly tussled,
And I could try a little bit harder to evaporate any enemies I might have made along the way.

These empty sides are like excuses for reading less and coming back to respond in some other colored ink.
That page is not what I consider to be for myself as much as it can sometimes appear that way.
It was merely a pronunciation of the independence I had just newly acquired.
I would suck the juice out of it life if it meant I could linger there.
But as of yet I prefer this electric and automated freedom.
Feeling that ways was necessary to the process of sneaking out of the house at night
And then back into the garage in the morning.
The sun-burnt sidewalk always slick with ocean fog.
My car left purring, seeping out smells of old cigarettes -
And I can hear the sounds of pianos,
My goodness.
These pages could strangle me.
Two by two.
Or none at all.
I am amazed by what I’ve done,
less so by what I have become.

- ariel quirolo.

~all words and images are property of ariel quirolo~

---arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)---

after talking it over with the ocean...

in-so-much as i can remain in this moment.
i will come full circle and remount.

used to just feel like i'd hired a retired party-pony,
then entered a legitimate race.

turns out i just prefer walking,
because who wins or looses doesn't even count.

there's nothing quite like cutting off an ear to spite a face.

- ariel quirolo.

~all words and images are property of ariel quirolo~

---arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)---

Catch and Release

most notably:
perspective,
and all that life brings
whether it's cherries,
tangerines,
sleepless nights,
mystic encounters,
or the Macy's day parade.
It's all quicksand
And we will all get paid
in karmic lessons.

the energy we broadcast
boundlessly says: we might miss!

wholeness seems so easily fractured
(might not BE what the point is)

then comes Depression
fallowed tediously by her cohort Elevation.
things that do not require use of your meager measures to contain them.

as much as they own you,
as much as you sense ownership of them..
only your
not holding
can make things happen.
just an exasperated release,
will let life occur.
The tone morphing salamander of control
will never be the right shade for catching.
- ariel quirolo

~all words and images are property of ariel quirolo~

---arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)---

silly little morning poem

Its fine
Its   fine
It is     fine
Its a thing that is-so-paper-thin
It needs its own annual ringing in
I will volunteer
To steer
each muscle
That contracts
With my strong hands
Across the mountain of his back
Till a little liquid dream
Spills out the corner of his mouth

And in it we are driving
F   a   r      f  a  r
South
south
To the edge of the brick wall
To take a picture
Long overdue
But right on time.
My words are static
Choking a vine
Of night blooming jasmine
Sickeningly sweet
Whispered in an octave
Much lower than this valley
Then settling
at the
calloused arch of his feet.

- Ariel Quirolo

~all words and images are property of ariel quirolo~

---arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)---

infinite figure.

"8 bags - - left.
eight BAGS left.
8......bags.

left."

said the man with a woolen hat of hair and a shiny unwashed face.

and i dont know what kinda bags he had left,
or who's bags he mighta found,
or even if there was somethin he was selling -
but his voice,
and those words,
were the most dense poetry i ever heard.

- Ariel Quirolo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A note from the Ariel: There are so many ways you can help the homeless in your area...here are just 35:
http://www.justgive.org/html/ways/35ways_homeless.html

~all words and images are property of ariel quirolo~

---arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)---

concentric circles

time invades this
space
and wants to suffocate me
with her wisdom;
imparts the place where quickening
becomes wild - winter
doesn't stop here
just spring;
just summer -
just young hearts competing
for the quickest breath
of fresh
air
that manifests
art
from the insides out. turning,
turning, becoming:
a january,
a february,
a march
well spent.
in no relation to it's whiteness
or words
without paper,
washed out
the stars from my mouth
and replaced them
with sounds
of diamonds -
things that reflect perfect light
and collect
the where,
with all that's.

-ariel quirolo.

~all words and images are property of ariel quirolo~

---arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)---

mindmath.

made of molds
and incisions
of drought,
and balancing
what's in rhythm
and what's
just
slipped
out.

a fraction of my time
spent on this earth
will soothe anyone
- of this i have little doubt.
making (sometimes) scenarios
best suited to sit-coms
reminds even the most careful mind
of who (or what)
this living things only somewhat about...

it's that .99999
percent,
that decides you
and confines me.
it's what makes us special
it's what divides us by
3.
three wishes,
three tries,
three monumental strides
towards complete
knowingness. of the us
inside.

that heralded,
painstaking
prize.

-ariel quirolo.

~all words and images are property of ariel quirolo~

---arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)---

just wait. or dont. either way, you'll see.

in case all of it is not enough - - -
in case the capitalist emulsified content of your life is not enough,
i will sometimes write things that you will think are poems - but they
are not poems - or letters,
just reminder notes.
reminding you that the choice was/is always yours.
(a realization that took me 10 years to have
and 4 years to accept).
and i know,
it can be fun
to fall in love with the looking glass of your own heart
(as if it might suddenly love you back)
there is a lesson in that lesion
that starts out
fist first
aiming for the eye...
and then just shatters everything.
you know what though? (and, it might sound crazy...but) i
dont miss that blue-green mirror
or the pig painting
or the small wooden chest with nails of death
or any of the street signs.
they are not you.
besides...
i've got all these spiral bound books,
filled with reminder notes,
and they have always
been enough.

-ariel quirolo.

~all words and images are property of ariel quirolo~

---arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)---

for no one.

caught in a whirlwind.
a wish.
a wisdom that comes from a place i've only had in dreams.
only seen of sometimes.
i'm never really sure.
till i'm sure.
maybe that explains.
maybe it mearly seems.
in reference,
or in making a point...
to
always count on
no
one.
because...
the people you need the most
will leave you.

-ariel quirolo.

~all words and images are property of ariel quirolo~

---arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)---

Rubber Duck.

the tub waits like a womb.
admonished by her previous tenants.
water wades
up to my big toe.
cleans the coagulated blood
(splashed on it moments ago).
it's a heavy day
and almost summer.
someone should tell the clouds in the wind who are busy knocking over chairs in less guarded rooms.
while i am Concentrated on: recreating one more day that contains a least one moment of
de ja vu.
i get close, and sometimes even come in range of you.
maybe just by a single sullen syllable
spoken like a warrior.
but, nothing mocks us more than we've already been mocked
and no one hears us clearer than the people who have decided that there is no box.
i teetered on the edge there for a second. almost slipped!
but never once have considered purchasing any of those hideous adhesives that you glue on the bottom of the shower.
you know, the ones that are cut out like daisies and misshapen replicas of human feet. 
instead i keep my balance like a cat
and look forward to the day when all of my shit is put away.
Literally. Figuratively.
which ever way you slice it, i'm pretty much always looking forward to ___
always cant wait for___

but...
now is good.
in fact.
now is great.
again, there are those who just manufacture little memories.
built to hit me like a jack knife when I thought the loaf of bread came pre- sliced.
hit me like a clown gets hit with banana cream pie.

i wonder sometimes...mostly just: why? 
but should take to pondering more often, things like:
      what to eat, and what shoes to wear with what dress (for the record it's mostly dresses now).

I slipped through a worm hole at some point along this journey. maybe even burrowed into. the other side has blossomed and revealed the most sparkling sunshine along with the dense fog, which combined in the same second of twilight creates this perfect jesus sky that we can marvel at...while other times I just need the view of us...of you...of each molecule, cell, tissue...organs that make up your body, but always fall short of capturing your old soul...they are just vessels for your energy, which spasms and contorts my body
early in the morning in
                                 ways I continue to be amazed at.
-ariel quirolo

~all words and images are property of ariel quirolo~

---arieltrisityquirolo(stellascura2006)---

Fresh Words.

The writings of a friend and an inspiration. A new feature on Dashus:land...soon.xox.