of zebras

formation of mental objects

sometimes i fear there is so much else and too little of us

sometimes i fear the dunes might be blown away like a wish and with it, you

sometimes i fear the grass will break you, zebra of dreams

sometimes i fear the turn of the spindle and how it weaves its endless thorns

sometimes i fear i dreamed you and now i am awake-alone

sometimes i fear i cannot take my bed up and follow you into those blue shadows

sometimes i fear the moon will disappear and leave just a sun to parch

sometimes i fear for what we know we have missed under this vast dark ocean

sometimes i fear the world is us and we are the world going by, going slowly by

sometimes i fear we wash our hands of this port and set sail in endless separation

sometimes i fear what our knowing all this may do to me and do to you

sometimes i fear for the flowers in our garden that grow down

but when i straddle your back

and the wind sweeps us into that rainbow

over the plains and

onto our mountain where the raindrops gather

we soar

we soar

sometimes

you

and

i

just

fly

tijuana zebras have been a popular tourist attraction in tijuana, mexico, a city that borders the united states, since the 1940s. the tijuana painted donkey, or tijuana zebra, came about some time in the middle of the twentieth century. the reason for painting the donkeys was to ensure that the animal be seen in photographs. since the donkeys were mostly white, on sunny days with the old black and white cameras the donkey would be seen as a ghostly figure. a long-time tourist staple, the donkeys live on a hillside below the casa de la cultura in tijuana.

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