Damien Jurado
where shall you take me?
Secretly Canadian Records

I sent Mom a bromeliad for Mother's Day this year. I love bromeliads. I know now she does too.

These are great days to be growing things. Living, breathing things. Or, more precisely, living so We can be breathing things. So I'm making myself a gardener - making a gardener out of myself.

But it doesn't come naturally for me; I'll scorch and drown plants very easily. I don't always pay attention. And I think that's what it's about, mostly - paying attention. You notice what is needed or you don't. Noticing need to water or feed. Seed and weed. Prune and recede.

Now, out on my stoop here in San Franscisco I've got some dwarf shrubs and native grasses. A miniature Juniper tree and Rosebush. Some Whiskey Begonias and ornamental strawberries. And I'm even starting some Nastursiums from seed . So far, so good. Strong and pulling towards the sun they are.

Damien Jurado. I don't know what to say about him. Never really have. Always wanted to write about his records. I mean they're some of my favorite records ever. But I couldn't. Now I just gotta. And what I'm saying is this is what I'm saying.

I remember, years ago, after an old lover moved out I stopped watering all the Zebrina Pendula we had around the house . Not on purpose, mind you. Just stopped. They died and dried and stayed hanging in windows in macrame pots as some kind of strange reminder. And they stayed like that for quite a while. When I was finally ready to leave that town on the Mississippi for a larger one upriver, I remember the landlord showing the place to the new tenants and shooting me a look.

I feel remorse now for those beautiful white striped and purple beauties. I'll have to go and find me some now. I'll make sure I pay attention this time.

Copyright © 2003 Alice Kenner