Paranoid Schizophrenic and Demon Pinnacles


Pahn has eaten at a restaurant with Aiks
 in the town where he was raised 
He has tried to find a bathroom in vain 
He and Aiks
have started walking North
 through the waste area along the freeway
where he used to explore as a child 
but when they come to the place
where the creek used to flow into the city
he finds instead an unexpected mountain
with cliffs and pinnacles

Pahn walks with Aiks
along the freeway                                                   
with its ever-changing view 
As they round the end
of the mountain           they see               
unobscured

in the distance          
a broad       cascading macramé
   of water                                                               
                        falling    
 into a small valley…

 …Pahn and Aiks have descended                                 
                  to the river     that comes                            
from the falls                 

It flows      a deep      murky grey-blue
through a ruin of riverfront                                                
factories            where naked frames
of girders rise      from the water and the shore

There are
many swimmers here                                     

Pahn and Aiks
walk into the river                                                  
and swim upstream     weaving
around the beams        careful of their knees    seeking
the cleaner      lonelier lands upriver       where
 the water      flows over rocks      and is
clear to the bottom                                                         

Beyond the ruins
they come to a wild                                                           
and undeveloped landscape                                  
where they leave the river

through the dry
pastures                               
toward                     

a grove of pines            

 looking
for a place to camp

They come upon a couple      camping
with an angry 
                                 paranoid-schizophrenic 
                                                                friend…

… back to the river                                         
             where it flows                                     
 now over                                                 
        rocks                                    
         and gravel                                           

 in a dry valley
 of meadows and boulders

they find in the pools                                                     
giant     enchanted carp

And looking back
downriver             to the slower water                                         
they see
 the paranoid-schizophrenic    swimming
with a knife…               

…They walk back out
           behind the mountain
 toward the town
 to the ‘little girls room’
like a doghouse
 too small for Pahn           
that doesn’t even have
a real toilet
(although Aiks had used it first somehow)

so they  go back to the river
and swim downstream       imagining
the paranoid-schizophrenic
 following them 

As they glide   in the deep water  into the steel ruins again    
they pass a crocodile/dinosaur      whose back breaks 
the surface     and adds to their uneasiness    but looking
behind    to see      if anyone or anything
 is still following
 they see only
 a dog

  Aiks thinks the dog is after her
but Pahn sees
that it has a tennis ball         and only wants
 to play 
 and Pahn throws
 the tennis ball           
for it to fetch          

Finally      they return to the river entrance
where they turn to look where they have been     and see 
  in the distance
the mountain pinnacles            
in demon 
shapes                 
dancing
and singing

Pahn
 still needing a bathroom
walks into the adjacent field     and tilts over
a picnic table (as a screen)
but is uncomfortable                                                    
under the overhanging eyes
of the demon spires


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS


Some of these poems originally appeared in the following publications

Avocet
Dream International Quarterly
mojo risin'
The Muse Apprentice Guild (The MAG)
Transfer

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