Kieu's Blog

Drift

The moon rises until no longer

The air picks up the sand, for others

To breathe the fresh air

The stars come out one by one, for those

Who wish to gaze and admire

I lay my head down

I let go of my thoughts

The air strums the guitar

Suspended in a Slice of Time

I had been at Waldo Lake under the blazing sun for four hours towards the end of last August. The only thing on my mind was to take a nap in the shade. My friend, Aurelia and I went off to find a group of trees to hang our hammocks up. Our idle spot was a good set of trees to suspend from, for Aurelia and I be close enough to talk to one another, and to have a view of the water. We walked up and down the main trail seeing endless amounts of deep green colored trees with a view of smoke draped over the lake, yet there was nowhere for us to temporarily rest our mind and body. We either found an area with trees that were too hard to get to, the trees were too small, the trees were too big, or there wasn’t enough room for the two of us.

We circled back to where we started, and that’s when we decided: we were done walking, and we would make the spot work. The area had a cluster of decent sized trees, a couple of cement benches, trails that led elsewhere, and a glimpse of the water. Aurelia decided to think outside the box. She tied one end of her green hammock to a tree and tied the other end to a bench post. It was my turn. I decided to go with the classic two tree suspension. So, I used the same tree as Aurelia’s and a tree that was off the pathway. Together we looked like the outline of a pie slice.

There we were laying in the same world, but our thoughts were in another. For the first twenty minutes, I was really uneasy about being so vulnerable while taking a nap.

The only protection I had was my blue hammock. I kept moving around in it, I opened and closed it when I heard someone walk by, and I periodically poked my head out to make sure we were safe. As time passed by, I started to care less about what people thought about and was focused on fact that I was enjoying myself.

I was about to take a nap when a middle-aged man in a black wet suit politely said hello to me. He continued to ask me questions about the condition of the lake due to it being so smokey. “Did you get in the water? How’s the water? Was it cold?” He asked.

I replied, “ It was cold for me, but you’re in a wet suit, so you should be fine.”

He then asked, “ How was the visibility? Do your eyes hurt from the smoke? ”

I responded, “I squinted a lot while I was on the water. The longer I was down there the more my eyes got irritated. That’s why I am hiding in my hammock.” We both awkwardly chuckled, and then he walked towards the water. I was once again alone with my thoughts. I slumped back into my safe space and wrapped the smooth sun-kissed hammock around me, so I wouldn’t feel completely alone.

I was once again ready for that nap. I let my head fall heavy into my towel. I let the heat from the sun warm my suspended bed. I let the breeze gently push it back and forth cooling me down. And, I let the noise of the birds put me to sleep.

I slowly woke up from the half an hour nap with my eyes adjusting to the sun shining into my cocoon and a slight breeze whistling in my ears. I don’t remember what I dreamed about, except for the feeling of being present and free. When I unwrapped the slightly heated wrinkle fabric from itself, I saw the same guy, but he was wet this time. This time I politely said hello and asked the questions “How was the water? Was it cold?”

He responded, “The water was kinda cold but not too bad. The wet suit did help though. Also, the smoke has cleared up a bit but it’s still pretty bad.” He then asked, “ Did you have a good nap? Is someone in that hammock next to you?”

“Uhh…yeah my friend is. I…uhh…think she’s asleep.” I mumbled, “Yeah…my nap was good. I really needed it.”

He asked,  “So do you come out here a lot? Do you live close to Waldo Lake?”

I answered, “Umm no I think I’ve been here once or twice, but my friend comes here a lot with her family. Yeah! I live in Eugene, so it’s a few hours away.” We said our goodbyes. I watched him head towards the trail leaving drops of Waldo Lake behind.

I was alone again with my swirling thoughts. I thought over how a lot had happened in an hour and a half. How difficult it was to take a nap. How anxious I was about taking a nap. How saying hello or smiling at someone could start a one-time conversation or a conversation that lasts a lifetime. How grateful I was to be able to experience nature with my friends. How change can be scary but it would become regular. And, how nervous it could be to live life at a certain moment. Fortunately, my train of thought got interrupted before it got too deep by Aurelia poking her head out of her hammock.

We sat there chatting about how we needed those naps and that we were still so exhausted. Then, I told her about talking to the guy. Moments after, she told me that she heard our conversation, but she didn’t want to talk to us. We had a good laugh about how awkward was. Soon after, we untied our hammocks and walked towards the water as if no one took a nap here in the first place.

Breakthrough

Our lives have crossed paths, and that’s when I knew

You think of me as your work of art

But, to me, you are my sweetheart.

When you held me in your arms our love grew

Shouldn’t the trees dance with the wind?

Shouldn’t the sea cover the unknown?

Shouldn’t the stars light up the world?

Shouldn’t we deserve more than this?

I can’t help but only think about you

We get too close, ripping me apart

You can’t help but toy with my mind and heart

I can’t pretend to be someone I’m not

But that is what you want me to do

Shouldn’t the trees dance with the wind?

Shouldn’t the sea cover the unknown?

Shouldn’t the stars light up the world?

Shouldn’t we deserve more than this?

Our love has no choice but to hide in the dew

When I look at you, I just see abstract art

I’ll be free when I say, “I need a fresh start”.  

I stand here watching my lifeless life go on

It only took four years to see a breakthrough

Take My Hand

You are in my head

I want to intertwine hands

To become one soul

Feel your hands slip to my waist

Squeeze me tight, and don’t let go

The Devilishly Handsome Man

Carl was fifteen, the awkward stage of life, and trying to find the right deodorant to mask his stinky b.o. But now he has to do deal with these so-called “superpowers”. Like, what hell was he supposed to do with  pinky fingers that shot out tuna fish sandwiches and eight other fingers that shot out condiments? The ring fingers shot relish. The middle finger dropped dollops of ketchup, and the pointer fingers sprayed sour cream in an inconsistent manner. And, of course these “superpowers” weren’t equipped with super wonder aim. He aimed straight at a target, and his condiments did a zigzag action, and when he thought had hit the target it did a complete one eighty on him. It totally sucked because he wanted to be the superhero of his city.

Okay, not that his city needed a lot of saving, but it was nice to dream about being wanted. On a good day, Carl witnessed seven cats getting stuck in trees, three times when there were four to five police cars racing by, and two fires, all while during the fifteen minute walk home. Carl just kept his eyes down on the severely cracked sidewalk and he kept walking until he got to his small red house with dozens of flamingos tracing the outline of his property.

Everyday after school, Carl ran up the creaky wooden steps to his room,  so he could put on his red cape, hot pink Sketcher shoes, polka dot tights, a red bodysuit that had a lot of padding in the shoulders and fake chest hairs (for the masculinity aesthetic, of course), and a neon purple light up mask. Before he could practice his “superpowers”, he had to turn on some EDM music, and make weird poses in his mirror.

As Carl mentioned earlier: his aim wasn’t the greatest, which was clearly shown throughout his backyard. His eyes fixated on piles of ketchup a foot beyond his permanently condiment stained patio, a wide spread pattern of sour cream across the flamingo fence, and relish in the trees. His backyard looked as if someone closed their eyes, held a paintball gun trigger down, and spun in a circle for two hours. But, by some miracle, there was one patch of green in the corner of the flamingo fence. He sat a test dummy down, and took a step back. Next, he raised his left pinky finger, and aimed at the dummy, and his tuna fish sandwich soared like his cape. Carl didn’t care where it landed: head, ear, foot, hand, eyes, shoulder, torso…anywhere…he was desperate. Sadly, not a single crumb or tuna landed on the dummy. It landed on the flamingos. He tried again, but nothing had changed. It was like he was stuck in a failure track loop. He decided to go to bed and try again tomorrow. Not that it would help. He was never going to find a good use for these “superpowers”. He should give up now.

Carl thought about how his practice went, and all he could think about was how much he sucked. His body felt heavy in his cozy lamb chop blankets, and in few seconds he was asleep. Suddenly, Carl’s room became very still and cold, like someone was watching him. Carl woke up instantly throwing his body in an upright position. He was instantly annoyed when he called “Who’s here? Who dares to interrupt my beauty sleep. ” A six foot one body came forward breaking the blackness barrier around him. A man spoke in a beautiful methodical voice “Beauty sleep will be the furthest from your mind when my evil plan takes action.”

Carl’s voice had gotten quiet, “ What are you going to do to me?”

“It’s not what I’m gonna do to you, but what I’m going do to the city!” he cackled like a witch. “Let me tell you my plan because I know you can’t do anything to stop me. Mwahaha. First, I’m gonna place two moldy mango mochi bombs somewhere in the city, so when the timer goes off the city will be covered in smelly, sticky, yellow desserts. Then, while everyone is freaking out over this disastrous genius idea, I’m going to rob the largest bank- I Got Yo Money Bank Inc.” The mysterious man slipped back into the darkness, which seemed darker now.

Carl woke up to the grossest smell ever. Wait this couldn’t be what I think it is, right? Carl thought. But, then he heard a bunch of frantic screams. He jumped out of bed, and threw on his superhero outfit. He ran outside, and headed towards the middle of the city. As he got closer to the middle of city, the smell of moldy mango mochi got so bad that he was coughing up a storm. His speed was slowing down, and that’s when he noticed his hot pink Sketchers were no longer hot pink. When he got to the middle of the city he saw the same figure that was in his room. It was light out and Carl could see that the figure that stood before him last night was totally and utterly hideous. The man resembled Superman, but better looking. Carl would have rather eaten the moldy mango mochi, then admit that.

The man spotted Carl, and gave him a frightening grin, and then he ran towards the bank. Carl began to panic, but he needed to calm down because he was about to pass out. I need to catch the bad man, then deal with the sticky situation. Carl thought.

Carl knew the bank was two blocks to the east. Off he went, running like the wind. Out of breath, Carl opened the once clean bank door, and there was the man with three duffle bags. The man had filled a duffle bag with money, and he was in the middle of filling the second and third duffle bags with pens and mints. Carl screamed heroically, “Hey, stop it you devilishly handsome man…I mean ugly beast!”

“Oh yeah! What are you gonna to do!” The man yelled back in a menacing but smooth voice.

Carl screamed back “ I’m going to…uhhh…unleash my deadly weapons…tuna fish sandwiches and condiments. You’re not the only one who can have food as  your weapon of choice.” Here goes nothing. Carl thought. He first used his pinkies and both of the shots landed nowhere near the gorgeous man. Next he tried using his ring finger…and…it… didn’t work. The man became impatient. Carl saw the man was going for something behind his back. By time Carl reacted the man threw another freaking moldy mango mochi ice cream bomb. Carl was so infuriated by the devilishly handsome man because he had interrupted his beauty sleep.

Then  Carl then felt a weird sensation, as if he could tear a car apart with his bare hands, or slice a diamond in half a hundred feet away using his superpowers. Just as the man finished filling up the duffle bags, Carl whipped out his middle finger forgetting that was his ketchup finger. The stunning man looked at Carl, and bursted out laughing with tears running down his face. “Enough with these silly games. I’ve got places to be,” the man furiously said. He trudged through the sticky mochi, and when he put his hand on door tuna fish sandwiches, relish, ketchup, and sour cream hit his behind. “Now who’s laughing? That’s right, me, cause I’m not the one with condiments all over their keister,” Carl said while laughing with tears of happiness streaming down his face. The chiseled man turned around with a face as red as cherry. He began to charge at him, but suddenly he slipped on the mochi ice cream He looked like a cartoon character slipping on a banana. He was out cold. Carl took off his shoes, and unthreaded his shoelaces in order to tie up the gorgeous man.

A policeman burst in covered in the smelly dessert, picked up the handsome man, and threw him over his shoulder. This was the last time Carl saw the devilishly handsome man.

Three months later, after, there was a tuna fish sandwich topped with relish, sour cream, and ketchup statue built in honor of what stopped the man. Carl wasn’t recognized as the hero, yet he knew in his heart that he  was the superhero who saved his city.