i would be lying if i said i didn't miss it - the gentle rhythm of sharing monthly poetry oracles. there's a certain magic in the way words dance across the page, a mysterious alchemy that transforms thought into verse. but what happens when the words you carefully craft, the voices you tenderly capture, begin to take on a life of their own? what unfolds when the whispers you've shared with the vast, unknowing void and a willing, eager audience, start to breathe with an energy all their own?

these are the questions that dance through my mind as i sit here in jijiga, ethiopia - the very soil that nurtured the roots of both my mother and father. this land, rich with ancestral history and untold secrets, has been actively supporting my own unfolding; my own emptying - and as i’ve spent more time here - i realize this trip has acted as sort of a pilgrimage that has both emptied and filled me in ways i'm still attempting to comprehend and fully integrate.

it’s difficult not to notice the small, profound shifts that i’ve been wading through - helping me both understand myself in a new way as well as understanding my story, in new ways, too.

so as i sit here, fingers hovering over keys, i pray that the posts i conjure in the coming days and weeks will somehow capture the essence of this transformation. i hope to share not just words, but experiences - that are slowly reshaping and chiseling me, anew.

thank you for reading. and enjoy these photos of this lovely bovine-goddess that i managed to capture pictures of ~