Twittery twittery twittery
To my right
Cough
I’m selecting skip silence now
Big saguaro cactus trees all around
Big old
Fat
Fat fat
Cough
I’m selecting skip silence now
Big saguaro cactus trees all around
Big old
Fat
Fat fat
How do you describe a seguaro cactus?
Kind of like a gigantic okra standing upright
Lots of prickly pear too
They’ve got purple prickly pear
Back in Tucson.
Kind of like a gigantic okra standing upright
Lots of prickly pear too
They’ve got purple prickly pear
Back in Tucson.
Wild!
Saguaro cactus
Cholla too
Like what we had in Pueblo where I grew up
Saguaro cactus
Cholla too
Like what we had in Pueblo where I grew up
I’ve already left everybody behind
500 yards up the trail
Here comes a group
Water bottles and hiking shoes
Pink. black, and green shirts
Sun glasses
I don’t have sun glasses
Can’t keep track of the damn things.
Lots of people with camera equipment
More dark glasses
Orange shirt, lime-green shirt
Shirt that says, HUK West Coast Fishing
500 yards up the trail
Here comes a group
Water bottles and hiking shoes
Pink. black, and green shirts
Sun glasses
I don’t have sun glasses
Can’t keep track of the damn things.
Lots of people with camera equipment
More dark glasses
Orange shirt, lime-green shirt
Shirt that says, HUK West Coast Fishing
More twittering
There’s a bird up there
If I were with my birding group,
I would stop and try to find out what it is
Or they would and I would wait for them to be done with it
But they’ve sent me on my way
Because
My yappy-dog company
Doesn’t help them with their serene birding
Occupation
There’s a bird up there
If I were with my birding group,
I would stop and try to find out what it is
Or they would and I would wait for them to be done with it
But they’ve sent me on my way
Because
My yappy-dog company
Doesn’t help them with their serene birding
Occupation
Here comes a jogger
Green hat
Purple-striped shirt
Sun glasses
“Hi”
“Hi”
Green hat
Purple-striped shirt
Sun glasses
“Hi”
“Hi”
Kind of a sandy wash to my left
Think I’ll walk up it
Nope, too sandy for my sandals
Have to kick sand out of em all the time
Get back on the main trail!
Think I’ll walk up it
Nope, too sandy for my sandals
Have to kick sand out of em all the time
Get back on the main trail!
Hiking is always kind of boring
Trudge trudge
Even when a poem is a hike
Or a hike is a poem
Trudge trudge
Even when a poem is a hike
Or a hike is a poem
Thousands of saguaro cactus to my left
Prickly pear at their feet
Millions
Can’t count ‘em
Prickly pear at their feet
Millions
Can’t count ‘em
Javelina
“What’s up that-a way?”
“OK, thank you.”
So I guess I can go up to Seven Falls from here
I don’t think I’ll get lost
I’ll be all right
For a little while longer anyway
Not technically a skeleton yet!
Feeling my soft
Belly-button area with my fingers
Underneath my Youth-Traditional-Song tee shirt
Beautiful green bird printed on it
Snatches of talk from two ladies passing
Now a red-haired running woman
Blue sunglasses, orange shirt
I smile at her.
She smiles back
“Morning.”
“Morning.”
Now a red-haired running woman
Blue sunglasses, orange shirt
I smile at her.
She smiles back
“Morning.”
“Morning.”
Wow! here’s the Sabino Lake trail apparently
Wow!
Sabino dam is like half a mile.
Looks like a bit of a walk
Not too sandy
Glad I caught that!
Wow!
Sabino dam is like half a mile.
Looks like a bit of a walk
Not too sandy
Glad I caught that!
Here I go
Walking up into the saguaros
All reaching their fat green okra limbs to the sky
With their nubbly
Extended saguaro growths
Not too many
Maybe one two three
Four on each plant
Huh, there’s a saguaro
With something like a
Barrel cactus attached to it half way up
I don’t know it’s probably
I’m sure it’s 12 feet high
At least
A lot of jaggedy rocks
Marks from soles of hiking shoes
Like my own Teva sandals
Nobody could persuade me to wear
Hiking boots, though, instead of my Tevas
Life’s too short for that kind of shit!
Marks from soles of hiking shoes
Like my own Teva sandals
Nobody could persuade me to wear
Hiking boots, though, instead of my Tevas
Life’s too short for that kind of shit!
Here I am on the trail half a mile up
There’s the road only thirty yards down to my right
Boring
Hearing my
Trudge trudge trudge trudge
Hiking is mindless
Everything about how I’m feeling
And what I’m seeing around me
Is boring
Saguaro cactus
Tramp tramp of my Teva soles
Human voices drifting from my right
Sight of the trail up ahead
Craggy
Southern Arizona hills
Higher than I expected
Everything
Makes me want to turn off this recording machine
And just stop talking
There’s the road only thirty yards down to my right
Boring
Hearing my
Trudge trudge trudge trudge
Hiking is mindless
Everything about how I’m feeling
And what I’m seeing around me
Is boring
Saguaro cactus
Tramp tramp of my Teva soles
Human voices drifting from my right
Sight of the trail up ahead
Craggy
Southern Arizona hills
Higher than I expected
Everything
Makes me want to turn off this recording machine
And just stop talking
But I don’t
And the reason is
Because
To stop here
Or anywhere
Would really be too much like
Ending a poem
And the reason is
Because
To stop here
Or anywhere
Would really be too much like
Ending a poem
“Hey”
“Javelina
“Right up there”
“Great, thank you”
“Javelina
“Right up there”
“Great, thank you”
“Javelina?”
So where is that javelina?
Is a javelina the same thing as a peccary?
Those little cactuses look like peccaries kind of
Don’t even know what they meant by “javelina”
Could look it up on my phone
Love to see a peccary though
Cute little guy
Stout bristly piggy.
Is a javelina the same thing as a peccary?
Those little cactuses look like peccaries kind of
Don’t even know what they meant by “javelina”
Could look it up on my phone
Love to see a peccary though
Cute little guy
Stout bristly piggy.
Walking is getting a tiny bit challenging
But my legs are strong from doing yoga
Still—
Why don’t I stop talking?
Turn this stupid recording machine off
And just try to clear my mind?
Clear my mind by filling it
With more saguaro
More prickly pear
Some javelina maybe
But my legs are strong from doing yoga
Still—
Why don’t I stop talking?
Turn this stupid recording machine off
And just try to clear my mind?
Clear my mind by filling it
With more saguaro
More prickly pear
Some javelina maybe
Ahhh...
Yeah!
“Yeah
“I see the javelina!”
Yeah!
“Yeah
“I see the javelina!”
What a sweet thing!
“Wow, yeah!
“I have to take a picture
“Have to take a picture of the javelina!
“Ha ha ha ha
“Thank you, that’s really exciting!”
“Wow, yeah!
“I have to take a picture
“Have to take a picture of the javelina!
“Ha ha ha ha
“Thank you, that’s really exciting!”
I don’t know if the machine is still on
Trudge trudge trudge trudge
But I’m going to sit down now
Yeah, I’m gonna sit down
“There’s a baby javelina behind that mesquite bush
”That one’s its mamma!”
Trudge trudge trudge trudge
But I’m going to sit down now
Yeah, I’m gonna sit down
“There’s a baby javelina behind that mesquite bush
”That one’s its mamma!”
OK
The javelinas can be
One watering stop
On this poem-hike
The javelinas can be
One watering stop
On this poem-hike
Up at the Stone Pump House
What I mostly feel now is fear
Not too much fear
Sixty-six-year-old man
Walked up [CHIME] here in my Tevas [CHIME]
Not too much fear
Sixty-six-year-old man
Walked up [CHIME] here in my Tevas [CHIME]
Aha,
Just got a message from Robin
Maybe they followed me
Maybe I see them way down there on the road
And I’m all the way up here
By this funny stone structure
At the top of this bluff or whatever you call it
By this funny stone structure
At the top of this bluff or whatever you call it
So now I have to walk down
It’s pretty sandy
I’ll have to go very very slowly
Yup, now I'm sure my party
My wife and Jim and Linda are down there
Looking at the javelinas I messaged them about
The baby javelina
And the mamma javelina
So I have to join them now
But should I tell them that I’m up here?
I’ll send them a picture maybe
My wife and Jim and Linda are down there
Looking at the javelinas I messaged them about
The baby javelina
And the mamma javelina
So I have to join them now
But should I tell them that I’m up here?
I’ll send them a picture maybe
So here I am
Heart beating
Bones balanced
Like a barely-rooted tumbleweed
That hasn’t started tumbling yet
Heart beating
Bones balanced
Like a barely-rooted tumbleweed
That hasn’t started tumbling yet
The End, My Friends
Definitely in performance time now!
There are my feet in front of me
I’m scooting down the scarp on my butt
Because it’s too steep and slippery to walk
I’m scooting down the scarp on my butt
Because it’s too steep and slippery to walk
They saw me
Robin and the others
I think I see them too
They’re coming out of the woods
I guess they aren’t too worried about me
As they shouldn’t be
Robin and the others
I think I see them too
They’re coming out of the woods
I guess they aren’t too worried about me
As they shouldn’t be
So I’m going down
I’m going down
On my butt
Is my wallet still in my pocket?
Yes
Are there snakes in my path?
Doubt it.
I’m going down
On my butt
Is my wallet still in my pocket?
Yes
Are there snakes in my path?
Doubt it.
How much longer how much longer?
What a tiny tiny infinitessimal
Moment this is!
The beautiful light, light
Lime-green cottonwood branches
Down there by the stream
By the dam
Where I was an hour ago
Moment this is!
The beautiful light, light
Lime-green cottonwood branches
Down there by the stream
By the dam
Where I was an hour ago
My God!
Thinking about all of my new
friends
Who make my life so exciting now
At my advanced age of 66
Which isn’t really that old
But it’s pretty near the end of life
For me
I’m pretty sure.
Who make my life so exciting now
At my advanced age of 66
Which isn’t really that old
But it’s pretty near the end of life
For me
I’m pretty sure.
Bring it on
Bring it on
Here I go
I’m going to slide back down until I find something
I can hang onto with both hands
Bring it on
Here I go
I’m going to slide back down until I find something
I can hang onto with both hands
How crazy is this anyway—
Writing a poem about talking into a recording machine while hiking?
I don’t care
I don’t care if it is crazy!
At the end of your life can’t you be crazy if you want to?
Jesus Christ, what is there to
Why, what is there
What is there to save yourself for?
Writing a poem about talking into a recording machine while hiking?
I don’t care
I don’t care if it is crazy!
At the end of your life can’t you be crazy if you want to?
Jesus Christ, what is there to
Why, what is there
What is there to save yourself for?
And that sounds like the end of
a poem again
But fuck it, I’m not gonna
I’m not gonna end this poem
It’s gonna have to end itself at some point
I don’t even care if I keep recording it
It doesn’t make any difference
I can turn the recording machine off cause I have to
But the poem will continue
But fuck it, I’m not gonna
I’m not gonna end this poem
It’s gonna have to end itself at some point
I don’t even care if I keep recording it
It doesn’t make any difference
I can turn the recording machine off cause I have to
But the poem will continue
Even after I die the poem will
still be going on
The saguaro will still be here
Or these saquaro will be skeletons
And other saguaro will have replaced them
Or maybe the saguaro will be long gone
And something else will have taken over
The saguaro will still be here
Or these saquaro will be skeletons
And other saguaro will have replaced them
Or maybe the saguaro will be long gone
And something else will have taken over
Yeah yeah yeah
Blah blah blah
Enough already!
Love you!
Love you guys!
Love you all!
Love everybody!
Blah blah blah
Enough already!
Love you!
Love you guys!
Love you all!
Love everybody!
I’ve talked enough
Bbllpp
Bbllpp
