Black Rock Desert Poem by tanya

Black Rock Desert was the destination,

Headed for a weekend of good times and recreation.

What I got was so much more –

But, wait, we’re just at the door –

These lessons take time

To infiltrate your mind.

So we’ll start from the beginning:

In my head thoughts were spinning

As I gazed at the mountains afar

>From the window of my sister’s red suburu car.

All that I knew of the event

Were second-hand stories from a book that had been lent.

This book, along with my ticket, to me my sister had sent,

A sort of you’re-graduated-so-now-you-can-really-learn-about-life present.

She told me they call it Burning Man,

Named for the tall neon figure in the sand.

“They will burn him Saturday night,” she said,

and off through the desert we sped.

After Gerlach and Empire we finally reached the place.

Turning onto the playa with my sister’s smiling face,

She popped in Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians

And, laughing, together we sang like crazy demons.

Greeted by sparkling glittered insane ravers,

Drove to 8 o’clock and feet to meet our new neighbors.

My first visions didn’t go past my eyes,

Which were sun and travel weary from the drive.

It wasn’t really until that night

That I completely took in the sight

Of a beautiful, glowing, magical community

That laughed in the face of a made-up reality.

And after an evening of riding double

On a bicycle that tended to wobble,

Sitting in a mushroom tower,

Feeling its tremendous power,

Smoking some hash,

Visiting a shrine for Johnny Cash,

Making way for the motorized couch,

Waiting out the rain in an Elvis tent, I crouched

Thinking Toto, this is nothing like home,

And biking across the playa we roamed,

Amazed by the sculptures of chrome.

We cheered at the Thunderdome,

Got lost in a maze,

And I knew I was about to reach a new phase.

This experience was going to teach me about community,

About people, about life, about love, about beauty.

And that it did in many ways

Through energized nights and dusty days.

The people I met were what made it all work –

This experience and how it changed my whole outlook.

I first encountered the Cyberbuss folk

Who lifted the world with the energy every time they spoke.

They were friendly and offered a game of Rock-Swivel & Bob,

So we camped next to them and added to the mob.

Their names have escaped me but their faces remain,

Except Sam, Rob, and Gamitone ­ I remember their names.

Others I met under the Central Camp dome

While sipping on frothy cappuccino foam.

Like the suspicious man who was writing to his boyfriend:

“I’m sorry to tell you, but this relationship must end.”

He was sitting at a table, smoking a cigarette, and then

He smiled and finally set down his money-sign pen.

There was Rupert, who shared his nitrous with us

As we sat on the seats in his comfy RV bus.

On his hat was a patch of black and white thread,

“Give me head till I’m dead,” it said.

His wife Sunny was her own rockstar

As she danced in the glowing ejaculating car.

And then there was Shad, who introduced me to these two –

I think he impacted me more than he knew

Through our long chats under the mid-morning sun

And the evenings spent together, full of good times and fun.

He had a smile that made my heart flutter,

My knees go weak and my words begin to stutter.

And before long in his arms I was held,

Into the deep pool of his eyes I fell,

And waking together to the lull of the wind,

We wondered what the coming day would bring.

Outside was my sister Jamie –

Beautiful, intelligent, the star of the family.

She was recovering from her own personal tragedy,

Pushed down by a man she had loved madly.

Almost done healing, she had learned so much –

This experience, together, brought us closer and in touch.

As we fought through traffic to get back to the city,

We discussed the experience and felt pity

That the beauty of people ­ their heart and their soul ­

Can so easily be stifled by our culture’s control.

And we vowed we would not return to the norms of society,

We would instead live in the world of a true reality

Full of love and compassion and people who would not shriek

When we finally decide to release our inner freak.