7-29-91 Initiation

Los Angeles

Hard to say what I was looking for
Missing rituals from a broken culture
Initiation to a club that doesn’t exist;
A jump on a mid life crisis perhaps…
Calm washing over me days before
Symbolic action it may well be
(and a flexing of the male ego)
Yet faith not needed to be tested.

Heat and light are spectators
As my patience begins to fray
Like the cord under the blue tarp
Wet and cooler keeps it safer
Check and check again
Ankles bound in velcro bondage
Some skit with pants down comes to mind.

Serene and sunburned I ascend
Focused and still looking elsewhere
For rooftops,oceans,freeways,signs
Autopilot engaged for days
My need to be a native pro
Beginner’s luck won’t do and then…

Falling back into the hands of God
My world now his world upside down
Eyes open,not a sound from within
Another sense takes over now
Number six this time my body’s place in relation
To Earth,updates every millisecond
Up,up,up so I can drop again
Momentum is like will sometimes
You can work it for a while
And then you have to let it go.

After common bonds are shared
Beyond the ankles or the hands

Another letting go.

As I returned to my place of growth
The sky plays games without rules
Like tornado tones and arc lights
Surreal shades for day’s end daily
Not just smog,it’s magic dust
Pacific island inferno half a world away
Gets credit where it’s due.

The horizon’s on fire tonight
And so am I
My heart,skin,mind and skeleton
Burn so bright I don’t see clearly
This is no time to think or look
Just to feel and thank and smile.