My mother was never superstitious

until she lost faith in her body—

with each new opaque mass,

her doctors uncovered

another dark star.

She started aligning furniture

with compass rose gardens,

Last night I was called
to the front lines
where life and death battle it out
and no one ever knows
who will stay, who will go
or what, in the end, it’s really all about

1.
I lost you at hello

2.
Scars knit
intended wounds
over time
under clothes
same as accidental

threads of cloud drape the hill

     like lace over a crib

drops of cloud fill the puddle

     like pearls in a bowl of tea

drape my face

     fill my mouth

be not the cloud

After a long day of running experiments and sitting in on lab meetings, it’s tempting to mindlessly drown your stress in a beer or two at the local pub.  While I wholeheartedly condone this practice, there are also many options to keep your bar-go

Where can you go dancing to a funk-soul DJ under a giant glass aquarium of a Philippine coral reef? Where can you stroll through a jungle and travel through the cosmos in the same night, all while sipping a cool cocktail?