01-31-2021, 11:17 PM
On a road-trip with James in 72
Us in his new Celica, Canada or bust,
I carried Ezra Pound’s Cantos as my talisman,
And in Santa Fe
Found Weiger’s etymological dictionary of Chinese characters
And the talisman was confimred.
We met them in the Uncompaghre wilderness near Ouray,
A group travelling in a van, all males,
But I remember only one,
His head was held in place
By a steel cage, neck and shoulders encased in plaster,
Like a knight in fragile armor.
He’d broken his neck diving off a cliff
And he had a St Bernard as big as a pony,
Who once won the strongest dog in the world contest.
He took us for a terrifying ride
In a jeep without lights
Through the darkness of midnight mountain trails,
And I was laughing hysterically.
As we left their campfire,
They handed us a paper bag, leftover peyote buttons,
And probably instructed us, I don’t remember.
I do remember the chewing, the swallowing and the vomiting,
Like eating dried up dinosaur skin,
Then each of us sought our sleeping bags,
And lived a night of separate journeys with mescalito
In the unfamiliar Colorado night.
Next morning we set out drug bedraggled,
Came to a cafe,
And a Botticelli angel bearing an orderpad came to our table.
Both our hearts were lifted to the sky,
Just one more vision bequeathed by those travellers
And a restless bit of cacti.
Us in his new Celica, Canada or bust,
I carried Ezra Pound’s Cantos as my talisman,
And in Santa Fe
Found Weiger’s etymological dictionary of Chinese characters
And the talisman was confimred.
We met them in the Uncompaghre wilderness near Ouray,
A group travelling in a van, all males,
But I remember only one,
His head was held in place
By a steel cage, neck and shoulders encased in plaster,
Like a knight in fragile armor.
He’d broken his neck diving off a cliff
And he had a St Bernard as big as a pony,
Who once won the strongest dog in the world contest.
He took us for a terrifying ride
In a jeep without lights
Through the darkness of midnight mountain trails,
And I was laughing hysterically.
As we left their campfire,
They handed us a paper bag, leftover peyote buttons,
And probably instructed us, I don’t remember.
I do remember the chewing, the swallowing and the vomiting,
Like eating dried up dinosaur skin,
Then each of us sought our sleeping bags,
And lived a night of separate journeys with mescalito
In the unfamiliar Colorado night.
Next morning we set out drug bedraggled,
Came to a cafe,
And a Botticelli angel bearing an orderpad came to our table.
Both our hearts were lifted to the sky,
Just one more vision bequeathed by those travellers
And a restless bit of cacti.