THE CIRCUMSTANCE OF HAPPENING (The Departure)
Dread Connally

Let's drive baby.
Let's just pack and go.
Let's make something happen.
Let's grab a map and take a back passage to the equator.
Say later to routine, cause now we're like two teens
carefree and free to see new things.
wind screams into Windows
as we escape the limbo of monotony.
Sho' got to be a reason for leavin' there.
Breathin' air so charged with excitement
I might just rupture a lung.
Can't muster the tongue needed
to interpret the perfect nature of nature.
Say for instance,
those rock formations that appear to have been here
for all existence.
What makes 'em?
My uncommon sense tells me
these monolith monuments were chisled
by the fingertips of the Creator,
Herself.
Or else
the Earth has the ability to spew forth
gorgeous portions of itself.
Shift felt as we ride,
caused by the fall and rise
of ground beneath us;
just as the pulse of a sleeping behemoth
fluctuates with heavy vehemence.
Squeamish now, and shaking;
making time to throw up on the side of the road
beside mountains so breathtaking;
as I disgorge, I almost choke.
Sweat soaked;
I imagine what it would be like
to be a little white kid growig up somewhere
"Where the Red Fern Grows",
Somewhere raccoons abound and dirty feet run rampant;
stamping new paths through virginal landscapes.
Man wait;
escape this reverie I've got to
stop soon at a station of gas for Seabands and motion sickness pills.
"Cause bein' ill and spillin' guts is not appealing,
but
you comfort me and resume wheeling southward.
Outward appearances suggest rest is needed,
although hotel signs go unheeded.
You just keep speedin' into the night,
poking holes in darkness with piercing bright headlights.
Quite close now;
so much so, the ocean's aroma approaches nose openings forcibly. Resourcefully, you navigate through unknown terrain that is far more than marvelous.
Plus, watching us watching it, is a heaven so halcyon
and dotted with stars
that number in zillions, with a brilliance
which indeed can be spotted from Mars.
Tar is the sky;
the eternal backdrop for contellations to fly before.
And before our own eyes,
rising from the dashboard, the voice of Ani Difranco,
playing the whole while, becomes tangible
and dances in swaying mantis motions.
And the notion of being with you always,
abruptly invades me.
Me saying nothing.
wanting to savor this instant infinitely.
Intimately we've discussed subjects such as music,
moleculre movement,
and soul fusion
to name a few.
All while crusin' smoothly to view something great.
But before I could contemplate
the wax and wane of Jupiter's moons completely,
you touch me discretely...
we are here.

Dread Connally © 2005

Back to the Newsletter Excerpts page.
Questions? Contact the webmaster Star.