Not even three weeks old and you slept in your first parking lot
We drove upstate to Hudson valley
And attended a small festival
Benefiting The Children’s Health Fund
My friend Gordon from the city invited us
And it was an excuse to take a drive to the country and test out the baby seat we got
Kinda like a bug out fire drill
We also shoved some blankets and pillows and in the back and figured we’d camp out in the country in a make shift bed
The three of us cozy under starlight and crickets
The people at the festival were all like minded
About the current state of tyrannical control descending
And the insanity of the jab
Various folk musicians took the stage and sung songs espousing freedom and the like
My friend Gordon did a whistling solo at one point that really stole the show
Fancy whistler
A whistleblower?
We got to walk around barefoot in nature
Kids playing
Your mama feeding you a fair bit of the time
A child painted a rose on her arm
And it was like we were in Woodstock or something
When you’re not hungry
You are cool as a cucumber
No matter who is holding you
You just let go and trust
A reminder of what I need to do more
I suppose
I met Gordon at various times in my life
Or I should say in my New York City life
Always at Perry St.
The rooms
The unmentionable rooms
The rooms you aren’t allowed to mention
In public
Kind of an archaic and silly tradition in my view
Annoying when trying to write into a public log of any kind
A rule everyone ignores
And writes about anyway with a wink or a nudge
Which I shall do now
The rooms with 12 steps (wink)
The rooms that are anonymous (nudge)
The rooms that are the same letters as your initials ? AA ????✌️✌️
Can I say it like that? Haha
I was a frequently infrequent member
Started my journey in that direction before I was legal
20 years old in Atlanta
Sober for two and half years
And then most of my adult life
Sober interlaced with wild exceptions
It was a club I was a member of but always felt
Like an outsider anyway
Kinda like humanity
Anyway Gordon
Was the rare individual that walked passed the psychic guard of my outsiderness
With the greatest of ease
We were fast friends
But beyond that
He gave me the feeling of belonging
At Perry st.
Even if I hadn’t been there for over a year or so
He’d saunter up to me after a meeting
And we’d start chatting like no time had passed at all.
Meeting him again down the road
In a different context
The movement of people resisting the shot and tyranny’s stranglehold
Is in keeping with life
The movie of your life
You’ll see
Different characters will float in and out
And no telling who the important ones will be
Here’s a hint
Be nice to them all or do your best
The festival was fun
Your mama enjoyed being out
And it was mentally healthy for us to have casual conversations with like minded souls
We discussed the insanity of the times
And how in-spite of the agenda collapsing
People will still follow this path of destruction
I kept saying
But they are plainly saying the first two shots aren’t working for the current variant
(Nevermind that there ain’t a specific variant test for a virus that they have yet to isolate. Nevermind that)
They will have to lose some people when they roll out the third shot
That new line in the old sand will surely turn some around
And all this is going on
When Bruce Springsteen and friends are doing a giant no mask required no social distance concert at Central Park
(At least that’s what I heard about the concert. Proof of vaccination required)
The cognitive dissonance is a wonder to behold
Plainly they say
The shot doesn’t protect people passing or spreading the delta Variant
Clearly they say those that got the shot early are susceptible to severe sickness
And this concert is before the third (we promise this one will work) shot
And yet this is a giant concert celebrating the end of covid
But you can’t go if you haven’t got the shots that don’t work
And people are trying to pretend that this makes any sense at all
It’s psychological war
It melts the brain
It defies any logic whatsoever
Is the Bruce Springsteen clause
If the boss plays no virus will spread?
At this point they may as well claim that is science
It makes as much sense as their other claims
I.E. no sense at all
And if you raise these points
You are the anti science loon.
It was nice to have conversations with other humans
Who looked at you with smiles and knowing eyes
When you verified with each other the insanity of the age
It was nice just to be out
Barefoot with you and your mama
And people coming by to see you
And welcome you into the world
At nightfall
After eating half a pan of your mamas poppyseed almond butter and honey cake
We started driving back to the city
But we didn’t make it very far
Your mama and you dozing in the backseat
I pulled over and we parked in a parking lot of a country store
Salt Point
I rearranged the back and we made a bed out of it
But the three of us
In darkness in the back of the SUV
Windows cracked
Moon a glow
Crickets chirping
We slept til dawn
I dreamt of birds
And taking pictures of a rare one
And then I woke up to you slurping and latching on your mama
Her big smile was the first thing I saw
Good morning
Just then the shop keeper pulled up
I went in to get a coffee and some granola bars for your mama
You got a restroom I asked
It’s out of service he said
But you can pee around back it’s fine
I did just that
Told the shopkeeper about us sleeping in the parking lot
He smiled and laughed
That’s fine he said
Totally fine
He was Indian and friendly
It was 630 am
I normally am supposed to start at seven but I always get here early he said
Oh really I asked
Yeah
Is it your shop
No I just work here but I know people want to come early and I love working
Every now and again
You’ll wake up in a parking lot
With a magic family and meet a magic shopkeeper that restores your faith in humanity
It’s Sunday morning
Just gone 730
I’m gonna get another coffee and drive you ladies home.
Good morning little lamb
Good morning.
Ps
Just walking in the grass barefoot as your mama changes you in the back
One of the guys from the shop came out to chat with me
He came here after he retired
He said
It’s nice you never hit red lights and there’s always a place to park
He had worn out tattoos on his forearms and grey shirt with an American Flag
No one here is wearing a mask (do they think they’re at a Bruce Springsteen concert?????)
I like the name I said
Salt Point
He smiled yeah yeah
Not for nothing but farmers used to march their cows to sell them in Poughkeepsie and when they got here they’d fill them up with salt so they would drink a ton of water and weigh more
And be worth more
Those farmers were slick
So anyway
That’s why it’s called
Salt point
Alessia’s parking lot
A storm is brewing
Hurricane warnings
A crow is crowing on the red barn across the street
I’m barefoot in the grass and your mama is just about done changing you.
As much as I’d like to stay
It’s time to leave Salt Point.