Morning.
The unrelenting chill of Minnesota,
slowly getting warmer
as the sun rises.
I see my mother’s uncomfortable smile
as my father breaks the peace and quiet
in an effort to capture the moment.

She prepares breakfast
to give them strength for the journey ahead,
both looking forward
to the day’s travels.

By car by canoe,
It does not matter.
What matters is the present;
sausage, eggs
and each other’s eager smile.

The freedom of camping,
the isolation from society
what a relaxing effect.
Having no reason to hurry
they savor the moment.

They have shown me the same moment,
taught me to enjoy the crisp cold,
taught me to drive and to paddle
and have taught me to love;
to love my family and to love my world.

-AM

Tentpole, stature tall and strong and
Firmly placed between the thin sheets
Members of the boy scouts, boy clan
Flames extinguished, his body heats

At dawn it rises, makes me wake
******* for the fire he gathers
Morning wood, embers of the stakes
Soon home; disapproving Fathers

Morning **** calls, but we're busy
Pack our bags, get all the work done
Juice of life makes me quite dizzy
Mem'ries of our weekend of fun

I'll be dish and spoon to your spoon
Spend nights together o'er the moon

Thank You Mr. Barstow
For your beautifully narrated
Video of family camping

During the summers from 1957 to 1961
The five-member Barstow family
Of Wethersfield,  Connecticut,
Set out to visit all 48
Of the then United States of America
On a series of month-long camping trips

They made sure
To go swimming in each of the Great Lakes

The family members
Positioned their bodies
So they would
Create the first letter
Of each lake

All the lakes looked so similar
They came up with this idea as a way to know
Which lake they were pictured in

Priceless

The son rolls up the back window
Of the station wagon

It reads, "Y'all Come
Sightseeing South
Summer - 1959

It is great to see an American family
Having so much fun

May God continue to bless the Barstow family

i dreamt of you the other night and i cant say i've felt the same since
why were the bumble bees on the appalachian trail so furry and friendly? Maybe it was the fresh mountain air that turned them into fuzzy mutants. I swear i could feel them softly whispering calming pleasantries into my ear, like stop worrying you're going to fall off this mountain silly girl, that wont be the way you die.
a white spotted greyhound tagged behind our group on the trail for a solid thirty minutes, my heart ached for the loneliness and hopelessness it must've been feeling, depression cant only be limited to humans? i thought about that dog obsessively for a week straight while everyone else shooed it off easily. No living thing wants to die alone and that dog reminded me of that paralyzing fear i inhabit.
bare feet padded down the beaten dirt path, walking sticks and grime galore. smiles graced their content dirt streaked faces. this must be an early preview of what my heaven will appear as.
cows were dotted everywhere, in another life i hope to be apart of a cow herd on a mountain filled with dandelions. they aren't weak, they are assertive and docile, only a ***** if you mess with them.
i wish words could fathom the beauty in the orange that sunrise contained. rustling sleeping bags and soft sighs of sleep enveloped the tent in a hazy glow, chilled faces turned rouge from the bittersweet breeze. this moment awakened my resonating need for individuality, the feeling of standing alone amongst others who seem to be enduring each day in a sleepy zombie like state. Only surviving for the moment they can finally collapse into their homely, bundled sheets. I'm afraid of being like them.
where did i leave off on you, something about a dream?

I swam in the same water
Somebody died in
I guess the same is true
for most water
(I think).
The water we drink
has been used
drip after slow drip
to drive Someone
to the brink of insanity.
no doubt.
At one point
your warm, smooth, bathwater
was choppy,
salty, grave
to more than one
unlucky
sailor, pirate or slave.
The water is the same
perhaps arranged a
different way..
Know it is the same
deep, ambient killer.
Still we swim,
and still we bathe.


This water felt, looked,
I swear I thought it was pure.
A humble lake
quietly licking the salty shores
not looking for a life to take.
We fished those waters
earlier that day
hobbling in our canoe
and barely hanging on
but smiling.
I imagine he was like that, too.
Drunk from beer and the thrill
of midnight swimming.
Nobody, not even he
saw what was coming
until the lights came on:
flickering and then
too constant
red and blue and
I can only hope
that bright, blinding white.
Drunken fools know not
what is at stake.
We were forced awake
by little sister
frantic but relieved
it was not us
at the bottom of the lake.

we watched raccoons eat our piled-up three day old trash

through the rectangular kitchen window above the sink

angled light emptied through the screen

that we thanked God was there

unopened decks of Bicycle playing cards gripped

the dusted counter for fear of flowing

dislocating elbows away from our stomachs

baring four ivory wrists to the photon flood

Oh I need
To get some rest
But I won't
I'll just keep feeling
For now

Oh I need
To drink some fluids
And not the first thing that I place
into my hand

Sing
Me to sleep
I smell a fire
And I hear laughter
And I see black