In a cramped catholic shop in Tegucigalpa I found a skull bracelet made out of seeds. I was in there buying Hondura’s patron saint for a collection of Latin American saints. I bought the bracelet and an image of Virgen de Suyapa. The lady behind the messy counter gave me a picture of Archangel Michael stepping on the devil. “For your protection,” she said handing it to me with two hands as if in sacrament. I wore the skull bracelet for many years and kept it next to a bottle of rum from Medellin that I’ll open on a very happy day.

One day, I fell for a girl that worked at Lolita’s Corner Store in Boulder, CO. She looked like Rachael from Blade Runner. While dancing with her in The Catacombs one night, I asked her to run away with me. She smiled a sweet smile, dance a little more and finally said “I can’t run away with you, Miguel.” The way she danced and the way her eyes focused on something distant told me that she suffered from severe love sickness for somebody off screen. I gave her my magical skull bracelet and started to feel love sick, too.

Rachael from Blade Runner.

I’ve been collecting religious skull beads. My favorite ones are pictured at the top. They were carved on buffalo bone in Nepal. Miniature replicas of what I assume Kali, goddess of time and change, wears around her neck.

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