Inspired by The Limits of Control, a film by Jim Jarmusch
my mind hops back
to the century trees
of Cabo de Gata
a woman in platinum wig
white cowboy hat
white trench coat
and cowboy boots
covered in leopard’s skin
strides through the nearly
mud-like surface
folding the earth
with her heels and
counting the flamingoes
as she goes
she whispers to me
in a stern chastising voice
“you must remember
your lines!” then I see
myself onstage freezing
forgetting “going up”
as she wanders up
cobblestones going up
and up and up the
winding Spanish streets

photograph by Chris Bava
–Wanda Phipps
Sensitive Skin 12 available here in PDF format here for just $4.95, or get the full-color print version via Amazon and select bookstores.
Photographs Poetry