The Last Acid Gold Rush

Geometric shapes
are ten bucks a ticket
but
it’s give
and
take
you give away that gravity
that assurance that
things stay
put
and they do
but not like you
think
they do

disorder, the hippies
the contemporary counterparts
San Fran Mexicans 2008
on the streets, the men waiting
on the sidewalks of
César Chávez
waiting for work,
I’ve seen them
noses aiming
at the road
looking at cars
One
Two
Three
and their Senoritas pack
them lunches
Stale Doritos
Chips
Tuna from a can
Smoked Salmon if they
are
lucky
and just waiting there
like jesus on the cross
second guessing himself

the other hippies
the first ones
the originals;
all lost on the way to
The Last Acid Gold Rush
to Medford, Portland, Seattle
some stayed behind
close to their speed dealers
the heroin
the others waited for Jerry
the Last Reunion Show
“Jerry will fix this,
Jerry will know what to do”
but Jerry left
and is not coming back
and they wait like
those Mexicans on the street
One
Two
Three
“Jerry? Jerry, is that you?”

the ones on the Acid Rush;
"this is going to be
better than San Fran
better than Oakland"
the Reunion
the Next Chapter
up North
like the Grapes
Of Wrath
sore
bleeding, their
shoes
gone, long gone
long before Woodstock
hung by shoestrings
hanging on the lamp posts
on Haight and Ashbury
thousands, millions
billions of shoes
just hanging there like
motionless crows
and they huddled close
the fear in them
oh god the panic
"god
oh please
f*****g god"
drugs excreting from the pores
all bumping into each other
each one higher than the next
higher and higher
the sky loses space for
them
all

The Last Acid Gold Rush
heading North
traveling
bare-footed
losing their minds
losing the direction
focus escaping them
Where? When? How?
they start separating
taking different routes
making packs
like wild wolves
swallowing towns whole
invading Soup Kitchens
stabbing the homeless
robbing them and stealing
what
they can
doing
what they can
to
survive
routes start forming Shapes
small geometric patterns
gaining size, mass configurations
right under Oregon
all them just
bumping into each other
Attracting and Pulling
Repelling and Opposing
like a billion pieces inside
one Big magnet cloud
in a constant state of collision
one center-point
in this organized chaos
one pack travels
diagonally
to other
on hints and
whims
news about the Rush
just rumors
but it is
all
they
have
one to another: 45 degrees
and another: 90
180
360 degrees
and lost
but so connected
Geometry in action
Geometry in Humboldt County
The Last Acid Gold Rush
and everybody
is devouring everything
like Locusts
and the paths forever
converge
forever the paths fade
the way flakes fall
and dissolve
footprints in the snow

Geometric shapes
are ten bucks a ticket
and the show is selling out
and it is selling out
fast

 

Reviews

[W.k.kortas]

Nice juxtaposition of the original with the new "gold rush". The short lines give the piece a rapid-fire feel, which works hand-in-hand with the notion of gold rush fever. Well-built, well-detailed piece of work.