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mld Sep 2015
the rainstick is home-made
from second grade when they tried to make us cultured
and the paper towel tube it is constructed of
is frayed at either mouth
and peeling along the sides.
the construction paper that closes it is fading
started fading some time ago from all those days
spent on your shelf
and when you held it in your hands
i remember the way you knuckles looked
like little brass doorknobs all smooth and polished

i remember your sand dune curves and how
my fingers used to be the Sahara desert wind
sliding along the grains and making small dips and dents
in your pliable softness
those same curves could stop wars and end world hunger
i was sure of it
and hardly a day went by when i neglected to tell you that

you once gave me a journal that was leather bound
with creamy pages whose grey lines begged to be set under
a fountain pen and even though you knew
that i only liked my work when i wrote
about you, on the inside cover you scribbled:
for the days when i am no longer beside you—
they will come. they will come


the only love song i have ever enjoyed is the
sound of april showers whose droplets
fall gently on the roof
like the landings of a million experienced parachuters
because it reminds me of the rain stick
which you left on my bookshelf
on your way out
2014
Delton Peele Aug 2021
Hot august night
I stand alone
Basquing in soft moonlight
Upon a mountain high
Emerging from solid granite
That which is too often
taken for granted .... ..
Ice cold pure

Life giving elixir  
Undaunted little snow melt  stream trickles
Glistening ......

Into a deep pool
...and
in
Dropping
To one knee ....
I think of Guideons men  
Keeping my head up
As my hand dipped in
It was here I actually
Felt my heart stop ...
.      . .     .
I like to fancy my self a mountain
Man..
I'm not
But I'm also not a
CITIY-OT
(Thank you Terry and Twila)
An something for sure
More burdened by gravity
Than me
It
Was
Bi-pedal
Cobble sized stones
Underfoot like
***-gravel
.....
Unrecognizable
Low frequency grunting
20 SECOND STRIDES
MY EYES WENT BLACK
INVOLENTARILY
LIFE ENDING SCARRY
my heart stopped
Instantly
..
Squeezed my chest
To stop me from breathing.
At this level of fear
Every part of you  body
Becomes independently
Gob smucked
At you're stupidities
Ears ringing
Nostrils flared
Dizzy
listing ,
In disbelief completely at what I just heard
Not even a thought
Was brave enough to caught thinking a thought
Branches cracked
.. . ..
Three count them three full strides.
I still feel it ..
To speak of it ...
My skin bumps and tightens .
I actually feel my veins hurt.
Inside my elbows and wrists
That stinging feeling
You get
When someone pulls the hammer
And the barrel touches you're skin.
Fingers on the trigger
And there not stable
I don't care
How Billy bad *** you are
It burns
Like if it was capable
That part of you would abandon ship...
Believe me
4
miles up
jagged trails along cliffs
Un-lit.  
The only other way .  
......jump...  
Ten seconds gone by
Heart goes
Ka-thunk
I swear I could hear it
And the blood
Goes ka..wishhsss
And then stops
As
My whole
Body says
***
Are you serious
Now I am
Serious - lee.
Ish
Considering the jump thing
Ya know if I could maneuver
Like the parachuters.
And fly till I found a soft
Deep river .....an...
Maybe
...
Ridiculous
And then again
Ka thunk ..  
Kawishsss
Almost as if it were a swallow
Like ya know my heart
Is goin Gulp
*** are we gonna do
And stopped again
Now my skins crawling away cause I heard it breath .
Im
Not doin this
We
Meaning my body parts and I
Heard something
And as we were
**** clinched
Frozen like a statue of glass
Trying to digest this
And while listening
We succumb
To the paralyzing
Fact .
That.

It ...
Is
Also listening


My face 3 inches off the ground walkin on finger tips  
Like the grinch .all the way to my truck .
Like literally  my heart and guts an everything
Huddled together silently.
Shaking
Holdin each other peakin out my back like it was a tail gait.
Even the three or 15 times
I ran my face into a rock or tree
It was without sound
Not one milli second lost in righting my self and catching every rock stick whatever
Placing it quietly at the sound of speed.
Bleeding
...honestly ....
Every injury
Every one
I issued
I O U's
Un locking my truck took centuries.
Finally I yelp as I get in .
Thinkin I'm in the movies and
It's gonna get me..


Dead battery .
Day light emerging
I'm bright eyed
Bloodshot
Covered in sweat .
But bright eyed
Back  packer comes out of the bushes screaming
***.


PLEASE
TELL ME YOU GOT
SOMETHIN
TO. ...

DRINK !
?
I said ya
You ok
He says yah .

Wuuuul no
I m hella hung over and thirsty
I said you didn't hear anything?
He said .. .
WAdda ya mean..
No more smokin *** and camping
Alone

— The End —