Black Rock Desert Poem by tanya<\/b><\/p>\n
Black Rock Desert was the destination,
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Headed for a weekend of good times and recreation.
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What I got was so much more –
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But, wait, we’re just at the door –
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These lessons take time
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To infiltrate your mind.<\/p>\n
So we’ll start from the beginning:
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In my head thoughts were spinning
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As I gazed at the mountains afar
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>From the window of my sister’s red suburu car.
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All that I knew of the event
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Were second-hand stories from a book that had been lent.
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This book, along with my ticket, to me my sister had sent,
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A sort of you’re-graduated-so-now-you-can-really-learn-about-life present.<\/p>\n
She told me they call it Burning Man,
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Named for the tall neon figure in the sand.
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“They will burn him Saturday night,” she said,
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and off through the desert we sped.
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After Gerlach and Empire we finally reached the place.
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Turning onto the playa with my sister’s smiling face,
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She popped in Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians
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And, laughing, together we sang like crazy demons.
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Greeted by sparkling glittered insane ravers,
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Drove to 8 o’clock and feet to meet our new neighbors.<\/p>\n
My first visions didn’t go past my eyes,
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Which were sun and travel weary from the drive.
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It wasn’t really until that night
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That I completely took in the sight
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Of a beautiful, glowing, magical community
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That laughed in the face of a made-up reality.<\/p>\n
And after an evening of riding double
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On a bicycle that tended to wobble,
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Sitting in a mushroom tower,
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Feeling its tremendous power,
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Smoking some hash,
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Visiting a shrine for Johnny Cash,
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Making way for the motorized couch,
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Waiting out the rain in an Elvis tent, I crouched
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Thinking Toto, this is nothing like home,
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And biking across the playa we roamed,
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Amazed by the sculptures of chrome.
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We cheered at the Thunderdome,
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Got lost in a maze,
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And I knew I was about to reach a new phase.
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This experience was going to teach me about community,
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About people, about life, about love, about beauty.
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And that it did in many ways
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Through energized nights and dusty days.<\/p>\n
The people I met were what made it all work –
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This experience and how it changed my whole outlook.
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I first encountered the Cyberbuss folk
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Who lifted the world with the energy every time they spoke.
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They were friendly and offered a game of Rock-Swivel & Bob,
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So we camped next to them and added to the mob.
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Their names have escaped me but their faces remain,
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Except Sam, Rob, and Gamitone \u00ad I remember their names.<\/p>\n
Others I met under the Central Camp dome
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While sipping on frothy cappuccino foam.
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Like the suspicious man who was writing to his boyfriend:
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“I’m sorry to tell you, but this relationship must end.”
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He was sitting at a table, smoking a cigarette, and then
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He smiled and finally set down his money-sign pen.<\/p>\n
There was Rupert, who shared his nitrous with us
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As we sat on the seats in his comfy RV bus.
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On his hat was a patch of black and white thread,
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“Give me head till I’m dead,” it said.
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His wife Sunny was her own rockstar
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As she danced in the glowing ejaculating car.<\/p>\n
And then there was Shad, who introduced me to these two –
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I think he impacted me more than he knew
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Through our long chats under the mid-morning sun
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And the evenings spent together, full of good times and fun.
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He had a smile that made my heart flutter,
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My knees go weak and my words begin to stutter.
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And before long in his arms I was held,
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Into the deep pool of his eyes I fell,
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And waking together to the lull of the wind,
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We wondered what the coming day would bring.<\/p>\n
Outside was my sister Jamie –
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Beautiful, intelligent, the star of the family.
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She was recovering from her own personal tragedy,
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Pushed down by a man she had loved madly.
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Almost done healing, she had learned so much –
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This experience, together, brought us closer and in touch.<\/p>\n
As we fought through traffic to get back to the city,
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We discussed the experience and felt pity
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That the beauty of people \u00ad their heart and their soul \u00ad
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Can so easily be stifled by our culture’s control.
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And we vowed we would not return to the norms of society,
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We would instead live in the world of a true reality
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Full of love and compassion and people who would not shriek
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When we finally decide to release our inner freak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 … Continue reading