I saw Frida today.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

She danced into my life

thumbed her nose

at Suffering

riding into her body

on a polio microbe

and a careening school bus

breaking her spine

but not her spirit.

I'd avoided her work

too bloody painful
for my North American fancy.

But

I saw Frida today.

She walked

with Diego
shared passion

for each other

painting

the unseen

the dispossessed.

I walked today

in a nature preserve

saw it with Frida eyes

breathed in the fall

enjoyed my legs and feet

felt old aching muscles moving

glad to be alive.

I walked today.

Viva Frida!

11/17/2002