joshua tree...

my happy place...

when i was a boy

of 3 maybe 4

there was a place

i could go

when the tempers flared

outside my bedroom door

when things would break

parents would scream

skin slapping

crunching

cracking

and i would go

just concentrate

escape

first would be blackness

and then the sound of my heart

thump thump, thump thump

loud in my head

then i would open

my mind's eye

and there would be

a yellow field of grass

as far as the eye could see

in the middle of this meadow

a joshua tree sat

offering shade and comfort

i would run out there

on my little legs

leaving the shouting behind

and there i would sit

waiting for the time i could go back

the sun was warm

but i never broke a sweat

and sometimes

those that had died

would sometimes visit

i was safe here

my home away from home

after i became an adult

i couldn't go back there

to the joshua tree in that meadow

only once did i make it

and there was my 5 year old self

how i wanted to hold him

kiss him

and tell him it would be okay

but he said

i didn't belong here anymore

so i left

and since

i can obtain nothing

but my heart beat

thump thump, thump thump...

Author's Note

when i was young, i was sick a lot, and as i sat with a high fever in bed and my parents engaged in some sort of violent domestic interlude...this is where i went...it was weird...

Reviews

[Lovely Lady]

I had a place similar... I went there as I read this... thanks for the memory!
There is a line by Guns'n'Roses....
Her hair reminds me of a warm safe place
Where as a child I'd hide
And pray for the thunder
And the rain
To quietly pass me by...
Your poem has this same quality! and I love it. I will place it on my wall of fame.
~♥~

[Charles]

you've really found your rhythm as a writer.

[Crowley]

A little mescaline like.....really cool, I totally loved this.