The Whiskey poured clean

down from the light-winking liter to the worn Gatorade bottle to the mouths of me and my friends.

The copper vapors swirled lazily

in the wide heat of August

so we imbibed whether we touched our lips to the bottle or not.

The sun was a universal melody that sung vibes like an acid trip,

beaming our faces with vitamins and heat.

If you looked at it too long, it might ruin your vision…

…they say…

But maybe it would just dominate your field and take you into its bright blankets.

We were dressed in traveler cloths,

Function above fashion—

Camo jackets, steel-toes, bandanas around necks, down by the rail-trail, spouting green as vibrant as the emerald-jeweled trees.

A cat-

As stray and natural as us—

wandered up mewing and became part of the group,

eating scraps of scraps that we had dumpster-dove.

You don’t need a residence during Upstate summers—

why would you with the tree-birds vibrating their melodies up to the azure sky?

A friend lit scraggy J and it was passed,

two tokes per person

until everyone was buzzing of the greenery.

Laughter cracked out of worn lungs

And stories were told with great, looping gestures—

of marble-eyed cops with spiked truncheons

or the Jesus of the roads—

dog-eared stories that were experienced in the past and the future.

The future was the past when life was spread with lemon-lime marmalade—

don’t nibble around the edges, because life is ever-diminishing.

But it all flows even and time has no place when the air is so sweet and clean and the buzz is so pure.

…down from the light-winking liter to the worn Gatorade bottle to the mouths of me and my friends.

and copper vapors swirl lazy

–the wide heat of August—

so we imbibed whether we touched our lips to the bottle or not.

The sun was a universal melody that sung vibes like an acid trip,

beaming our faces with vitamins and heat.

If you looked at it too long, it might ruin your vision, they say

But maybe it would just dominate your field and take you into its bright blankets.

We were dressed in traveler cloths,

Function above fashion—

Camo jackets, steel-toes, bandanas  around necks, down by the rail-trail, spouting green as vibrant as the emerald-jeweled trees.

A cat-

As stray and natural as us

wandered up mewing and became part of the group,

eating scraps of scraps that we had dumpster-dove.

You don’t need a residence during Upstate summers—

why would you with the tree-birds vibrating their melodies up to the azure sky?

A friend lit scraggy J and it was passed,

two tokes per person

until everyone was buzzing of the greenery.

Laughter cracked out of worn lungs

And stories were told with great, looping gestures—

of marble-eyed cops with spiked truncheons

or the Jesus of the roads—

dog-eared stories that were experienced in the past and the future.

The future was the past when life was spread with lemon-lime marmalade—

don’t nibble around the edges, because life is ever-diminishing.

…but it all flows even and time has no place when the air is so sweet and clean and the buzz is so pure.