Running
Running away has always been a big thingIn my life
Especially when it comes to running away from myself
It’s hard for some to understand
sometimes
All I know is that you got to break free from everything and everyone
leaving not knowing why
Through hills and spruce trees
Feeling your feet traveling across dry land
Collecting dry twigs, sunburned leaves, & shaggy
bark
The best part is being gone for three or four
Days at a time
to rip open your shirt to catch the wind on
Your chest
To climb a high tree & watch the pale California twilight
Then to sit all night and hear night
Sounds of owls and crickets and trains
The next best part is
When you return home
And nobody knew you had gone.
Calico
I found a dead calico laying on the
front porch when I was twelve
The cat was in perfect condition
beautiful without a sign of blood
I carried the cat inside and wrapped it
up in a fine white linen table cloth
The next day my great grandfather and I
buried him under some redwood trees
stranded in a dry isolated basin in
the woods
My great grandfather had a theory that the
cat saw our porch as a safe place to
die. He figured that the cat had traveled a
long way and couldn’t move any further
and died of exhaustion
All day thoughts of the dead calico were
exploding red and brown splashes in my mind.
