damn

you and max and the brutal dao
took me cross-country skiing up near eagle colorado
near a cave. ‘let’s go check it out!’ says max
i usually remember that on these occasions
everyone but you and your brother gets a broken leg
or a tree up their butt or something similar
mckinnon karma is a damned frightening thing
but into the cave i went like a happily buzzing little fly
i blame the marijuana, and the forget-the-drop-off effect
of the mckinnon aura, which usually gets me dead
the shaft was dark and demon-filled
the voice of mescalito echoing down other shafts
the ghosts of czechoslavakian families hiding
from the hands of the High Portal calling for help
from the lime pits but i could not move to them
deeper and deeper the mckinnons descend
six hundred feet below the ground we broke out
into a vast well of empty earth-water
max shoved a pumice boulder into the darkness
and hopped on. ‘c’mon, it’ll be a hoot!’
andy almost made us turn over and laughed
i clung to the stone and over the waterfall we went
hundreds of miles an hour down the lava tube
ever deeper, and i could feel the hot earth closing on me
i screamed. max and andy laughed like demons which
you cannot prove they are not.
BAM! and my flight through the mantle ended
on a bank of hot chrysocolic sand
andy goes ‘whoooo!’ and wakes up the eustreptospondylus
and the achillobator, who gets my jacket
before we dig our way into a safe passage
max and andy’s faces are gleaming and then
here we are, the chamber where the deep earth people
carve out their ritual faces in the paleokarst
a good time to pass the pipe, thinks max
soon we are laughing the laugh of the mistakenly relieved
the little furry white paleos carry us out to the wind tunnel
at least i think that’s what happened
WHOOF! max and andy land in the bushes
but i twist my ankle — see what i mean?
we go back to eagle and pick up my black puppy
from the safeway lady with the strange eyes
while we’re in the bar the puppy lets loose
and spreads it all over inside the cab of max’s mac
max and andy go back inside for beers
me and my paper towels and windex go to work
colorado stars twinkle on the ice
damn