Byron Aspaas – Poetry
House of Sandol: Them There Eyes
The cool August day danced with rain on the pavement outside the triplex apartment in Colorado Springs. It was the first time I witnessed these two dance. They bopped like they had done this many times. It made me jealous to watch them turn circles like lovers who jittered the bug, swinging to the beats of the song, matching the rhythms of the rain tapped. Outside the screen door, raindrops fell onto leaves in an offbeat rhythm making tree’s limbs move like puppets without strings. Inside, the speakers blared harmonic saxophones. Black arms hopped and bopped, up and down, while shoulders shrugged, heads in place like Frankenstein doing a Monster Mash. Trombone slithered into solo, when trumpets interrupted. Each lover looked into one another’s eyes and skirt passed the loveseat on through the kitchenette, passed the tiny oven, into the bedroom where they glided near the disheveled bed, finally, waltzing into the living room. The floor boards creaked as they twirl. Sandol’s tail swayed, back and forth, in mid-air. Paws dangled over shoulders. The song stopped. The rain shimmered onto leaves, illuminated raindrops glistened onto ground. Both stood, looking out the door, watching streamed rain flow, music created. Sandol in arms—protected. Maybe, one day, Seth will look into my eyes like he looks into his dear old cat’s eyes—fifteen years from now.
Byron is a graduate of the creative writing program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, 2013. He creates his stories using vivid imagery, weaving personal experience of carded emotion into textiles of craft within each sentence. As a Navajo (Diné), Byron has learned to use creative story to form sensory detail within his reader’s minds. His journey includes becoming a teacher, a writer, and more importantly, a storyteller. He shares his personal emergence by evoking his memory through journals like: Weber: The Contemporary West (Spring/Summer 2013), The Yellow Medicine Review: A Journal of Indigenous Literature, Art, and Thought (Fall 2012, Spring 2012, Spring 2011), and 200 New Mexico Poems (Spring 2013). Byron expects to influence his readers along his path towards writing success. He currently is in residence with the Institute of American Indian Arts’ MFA creative writing program. He resides with his partner, Seth Browder, and their three cats in Santa Fe, NM.
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