Ode To Malcom Lowery: Honesty

I did it, Malcom,

I got stoned for the first time in a month.

I didn’t know, I went to a friend’s house,

further than I normally walk.

We caught up, he turned me on, 

I wasn’t used to it.

Going to the bathroom up a spiral staircase 

was like one of Odysseus’s trials.

It was epic, in a way.

When I left his place, I had to walk back,

a good five or six blocks of uneven pavement.

I negotiated gingerly, stumblingly, haltingly,

taking pauses every fifty yards or so.

I had to wonder if I’d make it or not.

I wasn’t just stoned, I’m 77… so the effect 

was that I was drunk, or having a stroke.

Negotiating phenomena in a drunken boat.

I think I rode my self/mind well.

What a relief now that I’m in my space.

I didn’t tell you the details, the walk back,

walking on  broken sidewalks between people,

I was sweating like a pig…my legs were rubbery,

like a beat up boxer,  getting my meatball, drugstore,

shopping market deeds done done done me in….

jumping through self created hoops of uncertainty,

using the training I got from being a hippy at twenty,

using the training I got that “raises my energy”,

Shambhala Warriorship that few experience,

In other words,  I made it, I got through the ordeal,

passed the test, grabbed the brass ring, whatever you say,

I’m here in the other side to tell the tale.

No big deal, just a whole life in a couple of hours

time compressed, like a  traffic accident that takes two hours,

it feels, but only took matters of seconds by the clock.

Oh yes, the dentist, before I saw my friend, boy he was great!

I thought I’d need a tooth pulled but he made a crown instead…

forty dollars, professional work, a little crazy good like all dentists,

so, that’s the good news.

Good weed, good dentistry, as it turns out as if by magic some days…

wouldn’t you?

Now that I’m relaxed after my ordeal, I’m getting more stoned.

Wouldn’t you?

I don’t mean to belittle my situation…

I was scared to death the whole lost time.

Soon I’ll eat a meatball, give one to the dog because I love her.

I can eat a meatball soon because my dentist told me so….Milagros.

I’m a decent human, aren’t I?  

How much more personal can I get than that question?

I’m not embarrassed, are you?

By the hair ye shall know them…

punk rock hair…

rainbow hair…

the chestnut hair of a thoroughbred girl…

Elvira mane of dark intent…

Raven’s texture on her head…not really hair…

Harley Quinn’s pigtails…sweet disaster…

you get the idea…

Thanks, Malcom, for your lost time that will 

never be lost because it’s in writing.

Nice to meet you under the volcano.