At the trail head of Cape Sebastian,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
she split a homemade candy bar<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a concoction of chocolate, coconut<\/p>\n\n\n\n
psilocybin mushrooms,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
handed me half,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the first dose<\/p>\n\n\n\n
of my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She swore by their healing effects,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
not party propensities,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
used only in nature<\/p>\n\n\n\n
when she wanted to summon<\/p>\n\n\n\n
fresh binoculars and a microscope to view the world<\/p>\n\n\n\n
that had whipped her so very hard in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was her idea,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I needed something to get<\/p>\n\n\n\n
me off the canvas,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
before the bell rang,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a haymaker delivered<\/p>\n\n\n\n
by the State<\/p>\n\n\n\n
with hands handcuffed behind my back,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
key thrown away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I ate my half,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
it tasted like<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a childhood Mounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Off we went<\/p>\n\n\n\n
down the forested trail<\/p>\n\n\n\n
that led to a secret beach<\/p>\n\n\n\n
or so I was told<\/p>\n\n\n\n
by a teetering lush<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in the Sea Star Lounge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The hike commenced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The trail, a series of switchbacks down to the cape,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to the ocean,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
an alleged secret beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When was it going to hit?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s always different for everyone.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Will I know when it does? How?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n You’ll know.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Would I walk off a skyscraper?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Would Ebeneezer Scrooge materialize and try to perform fellatio on me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Would Sarah Palin appear naked on all fours, snarling like a savage beast,<\/p>\n\n\n\n then transform into a gelatinous elephant?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Would Satan show and weep black tears of joy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Would a blue-eyed, blonde-haired Jesus ressurect,<\/p>\n\n\n\n ask me why I became an atheist after being baptized at ten years old<\/p>\n\n\n\n in lukewarm water while wearing a plastic suit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Would I become a shaman and start reciting lyrics from Beck’s Odelay<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Heads are hanging from the garbage man trees <\/em> All propaganda she said,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Johnny Law, pharmaceutical giants, Just Say No dipshits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We hiked the trail,<\/p>\n\n\n\n nothing was happening to either one of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We repelled with a rope down to the secret beach,<\/p>\n\n\n\n a cove with driftwood galore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christ, the lush at the bar was right!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We began building a driftwood fort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She asked for guidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I told her to sense instinct,<\/p>\n\n\n\n so she slid off her top,<\/p>\n\n\n\n went to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seconds later<\/p>\n\n\n\n she said,<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’m feeling it.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I felt nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We built a fort,<\/p>\n\n\n\n she spoke in haiku,<\/p>\n\n\n\n her Che Guevara, Malcolm X tattoos<\/p>\n\n\n\n rippled during the labor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We stripped,<\/p>\n\n\n\n sprinted to the waves,<\/p>\n\n\n\n dived in headlong,<\/p>\n\n\n\n shot up,<\/p>\n\n\n\n a real baptism<\/p>\n\n\n\n in saltwater<\/p>\n\n\n\n every Christian really needs,<\/p>\n\n\n\n then they’d forswear Christianity forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When is it going to hit?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Patience. It will.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n We repelled back up to the trail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The hike uphill began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I followed because I worshiped her marathoner’s ass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One stretch paralleled the ocean, roiling waves,<\/p>\n\n\n\n sea stacks, sea spray, rocks, kelp beds, tiny covers, inlets, shore birds,<\/p>\n\n\n\n a mini waterfall,<\/p>\n\n\n\n tide pools a hundred feet below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It hit me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I told her to stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I feel it.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n She said nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My breathing crystallized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I felt my pulse: almost non-existent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I surveyed the horizon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ocean shimmered translucent green and white.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’d looked at the ocean a hundred thousand times in my Oregon Coast life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Never like this. What was this light? It was conversing with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I looked down to the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My vision extraordinary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I saw a seal bouncing in the surf, eating mussels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I told her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She didn’t see it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We moved closer to the cliff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I pointed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How can you see that?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Something’s happened.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Every atom of depression vaporized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I jumped up from the canvas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I shadow boxed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bring on the State’s Flyweight champion!<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’m going to kick ass<\/p>\n\n\n\n with a right body blow and short left uppercut that crushed the jaws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I looked at my gorgeous cut man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She was smiling, squinting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everyone needs a good cut man in their corner<\/p>\n\n\n\n for the challenge that is American life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You are lucky if you find one<\/p>\n\n\n\n who can salve the wound,<\/p>\n\n\n\n help you keep fighting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They may even have to cut you like Mick<\/p>\n\n\n\n did to Rocky,<\/p>\n\n\n\n blood spurting so you can fight on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We resumed our hike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We held hands, skipped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We saw three people headed our direction<\/p>\n\n\n\n bearing an uncanny facial and fashion resemblance to<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shaggy, Velma and Daphne from the Scooby Do<\/em> cartoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We said hello to one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Three minutes later,<\/p>\n\n\n\n I looked down the cape and saw Shaggy, Daphne and Velma<\/p>\n\n\n\n running in silhouette blacked out by the sun,<\/p>\n\n\n\n running like the gang ran when chased by a ghoulish monster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I screamed Zoinks!<\/em>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shaggy’s favorite euphemism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She laughed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We repaired to the Sea Star for IPAs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She listened to me rhapsodize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I needed the candy bar once a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I stared into the swirling luminosity of her eyes,<\/p>\n\n\n\n my cut man,<\/p>\n\n\n\n and had never seen eyes like that before or since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That night,<\/p>\n\n\n\n I screamed Zoinks!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n as we intertwined and writhed<\/p>\n\n\n\n inside a sleeping bag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She laughed again<\/p>\n\n\n\n but didn’t stop her movement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At the trail head of Cape Sebastian, she split a homemade candy bar a concoction of chocolate, coconut psilocybin mushrooms, handed me half, the first dose of my life. 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Mouthwash jukebox gasoline
Pistols are pointing at a poor man’s pockets
Smiling eyes ripping out of his sockets<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n