there we were.

cold in skin yet warm in the sunlight

half-hair long and dreaded and explosive

uncertain as to what societal standards each strand should cater to

yet unconcerned

unable to contend

to the remarks of those

who let judgement cloud

what the souls eyes see

we woke at dawn

sleepy ponderers

a boy and a bear

walking past blindfolded youth

somehow finding that, in the end,

it is the sky who is truly in charge

then forgetting the infant wisdom of the morning

and crept on towards capital hills

and farmers markets

and picked cherries from immigrants local and mother tongued.

each one a part of the same individual homogenous whole.

each consciously inseparable and unconsciously divine

we took the train.

we hopped in and out of rail cars

we wore our dark glasses in the fluorescent sun

we met girls who smiled like lebanese daisies

who sang irish haunts in the secret gardens of berkeley’s twisting streets

cars stopped and honked and stared as we walked stilt like towards cafes

girls unshaven and brave

cage fighters of intellect

unpronounced

with no regard to the coming massacre

but poised and ready to joust

upon horses named zinn and neruda and ginsberg

shouting quotes into the unfed raven sky of light polluted night

shooting rifle like proclamations of HERE and THERE and NOW

and burning effigies marked DESIRE, JUDGEMENT, and HUMAN WANT

I ordered a coffee

and listened to my brother talk

I gazed surreptitiously towards legs as long and proud as ashbury streets

then blatantly remarked upon the stark offensiveness of war

gawking left and right at shopping malls and boutiques

scribbled graffiti

kissed-in elevators

watching clouds form in the wispy winds of my mind

and considered the prophetic pentameter of the Phoenician sun

ever revolving

as entrances to cellar doors would open and close

carefree and careful

rambling young and foolish and brave

as you stared at your nails in stoic disbelief and directed my attention away from the cadence of harpies and braggarts and philistines and sirens and closer towards the undeniable poetry that rests in the animalistic wiles of the savage and coming night

I sat there in silence and held my breath until my eyes filled up with tears.

I thought about a hotel room.

where at midnight I waited by the open 10th floor window

until in your gin and tonic anathema you boldly renounced suicide

and resolved to test the lengths of human flight

when we could trade the sea of concrete for that true sea

for that endless sea of blue

where a young Poseidon gasped for liquid air and whispered

daniel

while the rest of the world quietly slept

I thought  how calm and careful and restless

in the hours before

where the boxer rebellion sang unoffensive indie rock

where a woman twice my age  pulled me close by my collar

and placed a perfumed kiss upon my neck

and remarked as to what she would do to me if she were still my age

while I gestured towards the bar and laughed

as her husband stared in vodka glares

I quietly suggested I be on my way

and left in earnest

walking headlong into the fullness of babylonian night

wandering the homeless streets half naked and barefoot

barking mad with the homeless

giving away my pennies

smoking my virgin pack of cigarettes

and laying in piss filled gutters amidst the broken glass

with Tim and Robin and numerous souls unnamed

murmuring into the storm cloud night with my negro brethren

feeling closer to gabriel and adonis and ghandi and elvis and jesus christ and all his eternal eternal love than in any church filled with blood stone walls and forest cut pews

I shed my shame and sang Hallelujah

and have been singing ever since