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Best of 2008: Burning Man, Hawaii, Con Amore

Taste: Pear vodka in the Kyoto Blossom martini; monosodium glutamate is a neurotransmitter; pineapple guava-a small sweet round pear; soft, subtle, woodsy spice, faintly sweet, evocative of squirrels, elves, dryads: cinnamon; grilled butter; mango liqueur; absinthe a distillation of: anise, curry and cinnamon; Carmelita
Touch: hot sliding beads of metal like a snake; tight, hamstrung muscles, after running eight miles and dancing all night; rolling relaxation, the rapid flow of the gyroscope, steady flow of the waves, and mirage-like memory of feeling the flow and tilt of the waves when on the land again like a light, lucid drunk; the lift and rise of the boat; my body alone floating in the sea; my husband's hand; a gentle face massage, light fingertips to forehead
Sight: a fey gothic boy; dimpled flesh twisting in yoga poses; sparks and flame; an athletic 25-year-old man somersaults naked every morning on the trampoline; a blue and white lit weeping tree adorned with paper wishes; lava, steam-billowing, bright orange light flowing into the ocean; hand-sized slim fish flying out of the water: one extends pale wings; the play of light, red maple leaves through a translucent veil, shadows on the window sheer, an autumn day framed by red velvet curtains; a steel pot full of soaked black beans shining purple like gemstones and ready to stew; red strands of saffron twisted and curled like DNA clustered inside thumbnail-sized clear vials like the cheap toys dispensed from in gumball machine
Sound: the onomatopoeia - sursurrus - a whispering or rustling sound; wind and waves and the shuh, shuh, shuh of the boat; mourning doves coo in all my favorite places; inside the digeridoo; drums, cheering, "I'm tripping balls."
Smell: cloves, Djarum cigarettes; his honeyed skin; saffron, cinnamon, cardamom, tumeric, roasted cashews and raisins, curry
Extra: Richard Brautigan's In Watermelon Sugar; Henri Rousseau's The Sleeping Gypsy; Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed; H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness: Carole Maso's Defiance; Don Charles' animal sculptures; Carol Guess' Tinderbox Lawn; sleeping on waves; romance, arms upheld in the shape of the moon; con amore - with love, devotion, zest; bliss on bliss

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