Burning man

(new years, 2008, montanita, ecuador_midnight on the beach)

They burned him in a ceremony,
the fires, the charges shouting from the ground
flames dancing also,
with the bodies
stars exploding in the sky
no, its just our celebration,
erupting from the earth

They burn characters and relatives,
paper and paint
not knowing what each person
hoped to forget,
hoped to create out of the ashes
years past

I danced too, with natives
laughed with ´columbia´
as he showed me rhythms
like this
like this
lean,
with your sholders
crouch,
with your feet
´la alma nunca es cansada´
(the soul never tires)
he shouts, his hair tired,
gold tooth shining by the moon

well into the night,
the black horizon over the ocean
where crazies run off with surfboards, like spears
into the first waves, of the new year
the moon pulls me into the ocean
thrashes me, and drowns me
I am new
with the shells,
seen for the first time on the shores
but weathered, colored, and beautiful
from years spent
creating
in the sea