Tuesday 13 October 2009 at 9:53 pm
The rain stopped an hour ago
& you can see the sky
through holes in the asphalt,
oil slick rainbows by the Jiffy Lube.
Worn leather shoes
can walk on the sky now
slipping on god's covenant.
I envy those who have no shoes
& cannot afford to sleep indoors.
They walk the skies barefoot,
rainbows on their souls...
Wednesday 24 October 2007 at 12:05 am
I made four full circles of the casino floor and saw no sign of Bill. If I’d believed his bullshit about his prowess with the fairer sex I might have considered that he’d gotten lucky, but considering the octogenarian clientele of this particular venue, I figured that he must have blown through his bankroll and headed back to the hotel.
I headed south down the strip, hitting the Mirage and just flat out purchasing a couple of beers at the bar. At midnight I went outside and watched the “volcano” erupt. Then I headed up to the Luxor, to wander around inside its pyramid frame and get an idea of how big the real thing must look at 100’ taller.
Around midnight I headed back to our crappy hotel room, stopping for a moment on the stairway that ran up the side of the place to gaze back at the hazy lights of the strip, noticing how the light that came out of the Luxor did not appear to shoot straight up, curving in the atmosphere and appearing to shoot off at an angle. It was another illusion of Vegas; tricking the eye and replacing reality with fantasy.
It wasn’t until I was standing at the door to our room and reaching into my pocket that I realized Bill had the key. I leaned to my right and tried to look through the window…
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Saturday 20 October 2007 at 8:30 pm
Between filling the tank and buying smokes and a sixer we blew our last $20 of Will’s stake in our venture. I wondered how our backer was going to react when he got the results of his investment, the news that his precious construction job was out there rotting in the Arizona sun… not that it mattered to me, but Bill was probably going to get an earful.
From the gas station we made good time to the border, we stopped in the middle of Hoover dam, standing with one foot in Nevada, and one foot in Arizona. We’d only spent two days there, yet I felt like I’d learned a lot in that time about myself, and about Bill. When we’d first met seven years ago, Bill wouldn’t have walked around the block to show me a mural, and probably would have questioned my sexual orientation at the mere mention of art. It seemed that being cooped up in a truck with me for hours on end discussing everything from poon to poetry, the trials and tribulations of being on the road, and the open spaces of Arizona had sparked something in Bill.
Currently he was leaning over the wall at the side
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Thursday 18 October 2007 at 11:01 pm
I was glad that Bill wasn’t overly upset about my stunt with the bull. The fact was that he’d have done the same in my shoes, but even so he could hold a grudge over the strangest things.
I think that deep down he was still mad at me for my romantic interest in our friend Nicole in high school. She’d never been remotely interested in him, but she’d flirted with me, and I’d asked her out. She’d said she’d have to think about it (she was Catholic and hadn’t dated before), and while that was going on her friend Becky expressed an interest in me.
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Wednesday 17 October 2007 at 10:35 pm
“I gotta take a piss.” Disclosed Bill as he started to slow the truck and move to the shoulder of the road.
“You sure you can’t make it another 30 miles?” I asked. We’d come a little over 50 miles since the “next gas” sign, and so far both the driver and the truck seemed to be suffering from dyslexia when it came to the gas gauge. I had a private theory that some kind of kinetic energy was keeping us going, and I had a fear that any change in our speed or direction might land us stuck in the middle of nowhere under a high-noon sun.
“You worry too much, this is supposed to be a vacation.” Bill pulled the e-brake and opened his door, jumping from the truck as it was still sliding to a stop. I turned on the radio and scanned the static while he trotted a short way into the desert to take care of his business. I glanced at the little orange gas pump glowing on the dashboard and reached over and shut off the engine.
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Wednesday 17 October 2007 at 01:10 am
It must have been the Jim Beam.
I had some crazy dreams that night. I dreamt that I was in a harem full of tentacled concubines who tickled me mercilessly. I tried to flee, only to realize that I was bound with silk curtains at the hands and feet that tripped me up and I fell out the window. Then I was falling naked through pine trees, the needles brushing my flesh as I accelerated faster and faster. Just before I hit the ground
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Monday 15 October 2007 at 9:30 pm
You may have seen pictures, or rode along with the Brady Bunch on a T.V. vacation, but you cannot fathom just how grand the Grand Canyon is until you see it with your own eyes. At ten years old my Uncle Mike took a family trip to the Canyon. His first words upon seeing it were, “I didn’t do it.” But I guess you’d have to know Mike to get that.
Thirty after Uncle Mike’s visit I stood at the North Rim, grinding out my cigarette with the heel of my boot as I gazed over the precipitous edge. The sound of an airplane in the distance filled the air as I watched a small white dot making its way up the Colorado River.
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Saturday 13 October 2007 at 5:08 pm
The betrayal sealed with a kiss,
cheeks traded for lips,
ear for a heart...
& the stars fall from the heavens...
Just shy of two years,
just out of the woods
you saw your world without shadows
& ran back to the forest
shoes flying from your feet,
sinking in the grass
lost in your wake.
I held the glass slipper,
wiping blood from the cracks,
realizing that it never really fit you at all...
Friday 12 October 2007 at 9:55 pm
They say faith can move alps,
& I've been chained to yours for years...
Toiling under the blazing moon
until I thought my soul would burst with
love's great despair.
& now as you mount my vassal breast,
even the freedom of your embrace
binds me to your volcano, your dormant groans
not hot enough to melt these shackles...
& in my simple confidence,
the power to move worlds.
Don't ask me why I'm constrained to this peak,
ask the hill why it's on my leash.
