Brothers
Rolling down 54
between
the setting sun and rising moon
so fat and full tonight
they hang there like scales
and I can't help but feel that we are
the ones being weighed
On the Road Again
and
I've Always Been Crazy
blaring from the radio
as we blast down that desert highway
the music coarsing through our veins
like blood
cause their ain't no song
like the one you're livin'
All day long we fought
the desert wind
and dust
but never
let them get the
best of us
so
we're off to celebrate
at Andale's tonight
Gathered round the table
we eat and drink our fill
cause tommorow
we'll die
again
between the rising sun
and setting moon
only to be
resurrected
by the beauty of mountains
and the strength of brothers
Ray's doing his best Cosell
and Brett is cracking jokes
as Shawn takes it all in
up on the hill
overlooking
dirty Juarez
Nobody's smiling
but its not cause
we aren't happy
the night wind
is blowing now
and it picks up our souls
Spinning, spinning
it carries them
high up into
the mountains
We can't get there
any other way.
4 comments:
Did you write those? Phenomenal! I love the image of "scales" and us being weighed. Awesome word picture. The other one is great, also. You'll have to explain the background of the brothers you are talking about and the restaurant you're in. Thanks for sharing. Your brain is really pumping!
Hey bro - thanks for your comments. The poem takes place on Wednesday, October 17th in El Paso. The brothers are my co-workers, it's only Wednesday but we've already got 54.5 hours under our belt for the week, and we're on the eve of an 18.5 hour day the next folowed by an 8 hour drive back home on Friday morning (a plane ride for me). We were driving to Andale's, an off the charts Mexican restaurant that has become an El Paso tradition for us. The restaurant is on a bluff overlooking Highway 10, the Rio Grande river valley, and beyond it - Mexico. The view from the parking lot and other high points in El Paso is stunning. Juarez has 1.5 million residents and is situated in a valley, so from El Paso you can see the entire city with all it's lights sparkling under a smoky haze. I could stand there for days and just take it all in. At night it cools down and the dry desert wind blows soft. The moon was not full that night - that line came from Omaha in late September - but as a group we have been in that situation many times so it fits. Ray actually did his Cosell impression the next night. At Andales he was doing a great Irish accent but the Cosell fit better in the poem. Also there but not mentioned were Nate, JR, and Tim and myself. The last line is about the transcendant peace that can only come in the midst of very hard times.
J,
I like the new look. I get your blog through an aggregator so I missed the switch until Julie told me about it. Nice sidebar.
I'm assuming Wenatchee Washington isn't on your top 10 towns only because you haven't been here yet?
Wow. Great poem too.
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