It must be odd
to be a minority
he was saying.
I looked around
and didn't see any.
So I said
Yeah
it must be.

I’ve known rivers:
I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy
bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I’ve known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

The brief evolution of the life of a person with wanderlust who lives in one place:

First, you tiptoe around, watching how everything is said and done and discreetly mimicking others, getting stuck behind obstacles before eventually climbing over them, and searching for the local key to health and happiness. (It must be somewhere).

Then, you start walking normally, though still a little gingerly, as you learn the lay of the land, and feel at ease as you discover this new place and make new friends. You even make jokes about those silly mundane hurdles you encountered a few months earlier.

Then, you start stomping through town, sure of your purpose and your ability to fulfill it. This is your project, and this is your house, and these are your people.

Then, the stomping wears you out and you sit for awhile, just wanting to take it easy and enjoy the comfortable life you’ve somehow created in spite of your flighty tendencies.

Then, you get bored of the sitting and feel trapped by the easiness and you start to wonder where else you can start tiptoeing around.

I believe that what can change our life
is always outside of us.

"People of color engage with local people more, and travel in groups more often."

I met a lot of people in Europe. I even encountered myself.