for alex
& kev
So we were tripping once,
rooster was there …juice
i wanted to go ride waves
the sun was about two hours from coming up
it was storm season
but we didn’t know anything about that back then
i mention storm season so you know it’s 3am
and the surf’s U P
and it is yowl and howl and rock and roll and i couldn’t tell you the moon. i couldn’t begin to tell not the first two words of any of what that meant. had never so much as read a thing about nature rhythm
back then i knew nothing
other than the sea
the s e a f o a m white
white as fuck whiiiite as it ever got 3am white sea foams what tells us
that big ol o L D mama ancient O L D
was there
holy mama ancient mama moon
lit white
foam glowing like that and the sand
the cool cool white ass sand
it was 1995.
summer before the winter morbid manor burns down and the water park called riptide
where’s all that energy go, all that story there? up in flame?
that’s how i know there’s vortex there
that long as people been here it’s always been there right there at the pier
vortex rip in the sky like or————>the honeycomb thing—>?
and anyway right before this
fire-season of samhain—i start dreaming about the moon, and have ever since, and it’s always above the sea
northeast corner of sky
so it’s from the pier see
how the witchery came to me
we lived on 6th street.
juice used to say it was once a bordello our place the frat upstairs the downstairs spot with amber and carlin and our spot always so god damn hot
and the broad ripple— on 12th? 14th? the old what would become phillips boarding house
that was a cat house too in the old days that’s where juice was living when he first heard i’d got to town—
so he came to stay w me
& the other
ladies of 6th street
So were tripping— right
and the sorta thing that would happen with spacey, if you knew him you’d know exactly what I say here
is truth
the cops on horses would come riding down the beach 3 am
and moments before they get to us like before we even know they’re coming at all
he’d look ya dead in the eye his Icabod Crane neck on the rise and like sniff the air
then go COPS! and off he’d run
and sure enough e v e r y y y time here come the cops mere seconds after spacey ran off
so this night off he runs an don’t ya know this cop on a horse trots up 3 am beach moon sea foam white and we say
we live here we are from here and point at the beach city sand
which we also knew to do bc of spacey
he taught me that anyhow
and the cop doesn’t bust us for a thing
bc what all we are is in wet bathing suits at 3am
so off he goes and while he’s still in our sight rooster and juice start a mud fight
just like we were still little kids bc
we have been doing this forever, see?
and that’s why the roots are in this cuz this story about james, who’s real name here is juice, this night it was just us, me and rooster and james they were best friends
and we rode waves. and we were in love with livin.
and ohhh jesus christ!! it was fraggle! snaggle toof—fuuuckn KOOK
i knew there was a third one that came barreling down and it was kook—i’ve been trying to remember all along who else was there this night
the four of us rumblin barrelin throttling down
to the white cap sea foam edge & in &
i forgot what a tumble that kid could take in the sea~
r i p
we rode waves until the sun came up mist fuzz pink haze
touched dawn
rooster and i were so high on sea love we came running in from a monster wave
he knew it was a storm was like that’s hurricane! that’s monster! that’s ridiculous! that’s the biggest sized wave ever thrashed me! etc! his body his instincts taught me
to read the sea
anyway we got each other and spoke the song of ancient mother and it was so tender and he was my brother. we loved each other. and we were full touched by this stoke love this wave love this turbine silk suck and came running down the dawn beach holding hands and juice was as happy as jammed jumping up and down in happiness and love. it’s the gayest thing you can ever imagine the way we’re gleed out prancing in the post trip dawn
rainbows dancing on the first sunlight hint foam air
you’re sea born as us you know that’s real the actual dawn touched rainbow arcs dancing in on first light of day
and roosters peckers hanging out his drawers
and yoyo who is on the beach now having joined us
and spacey’s back too
are both standing above kook
who’s no longer body surfing but laying and drying in the cool sand all
it’s gonna be 90 in the shade today and twice as thick you dig his squinch eye saying
and then we ALL AT ONCE see the dickhead winking at us at the same time out of roosters drawers
while me and him are holding hands literally fucking frolicking in the knee deep surf and beach mud sand
juice dancing next to us
all in love too little happy trippers
little lovestruck trio of us
that’s how it was sometimes that summer
until the dickhead is hanging out
and yoyo screams and we all
because rooster does the hardest
lose
our
minds
rolling in the sand laughing til crying
and spacey makes a comment about how crackhead wide we all are
then yo yo goes look at it out it’s fuckn miami out here
and we all go still and have a moment
on the tale end of being wild we are calm
and this holiness
is holy as it will ever go
so muses bless me?
would ya?
under this alchemy moon
white in dark as
white sand white sea foam as
r i p
i go
back in
~
& for tom