More past experiences turned into poetry. Hope you feel what I felt in this poem.

RockScar

 

Rock fortress

Mountain climb

Where’s the highest,

How much time?

 

Spring break days

Rock climbing,

Tussling with nature

We weren’t wasting

Break hiding.

 

All five of us together,

Praying for great

Weather to accompany

Our present moment, we

Went opposite the decent

Of coming down

There was no

Turning around

 

We were 15, 16

 Free and fun,

As we stepped two,

Then one, then when

Will this be done?

When will we know,

Reach the top, purview

Of the Horsetooth,

Renew indelible

Sun stamp of the Fort we

Grew to cherish and love

 

Wait five minutes and stop behind

The guy in front of me, I was forward

Not to stand so closely like holding

A baby, I was to close to harm,

Then sudden kick of boulder

Backward awkward stander

Position, soon to change

My disposition from

Blood fusing adrenaline

To something I never wanted

To feel again

Smothering the sun was the

 

Rock drop caught

And smashed completion

Three fingers to the left

Of my thumb, gasping for instant

Healing

Fingers caught underneath

And abrupt rock scar,

 

As blood came gushing out

Of my finger like a break in a

Dam, tingling, unstoppable

The day started invincible

Now the journey must end

This was inevitable

 

All five were staring at the

Wonder of my tearless face

And the amazing grace,

That walked us home.

 

They made a turner kit

From backpack strip

Cloth to salvage what

Had been lost

 

White shirt smothered in

Blood like grandiose

Movie scenes where

Heroes march away

From the Sun, that day

Was still a Plus One

In empty spaces,

That our memory

Traces.

 

The desideratum

Three fingers from

My thumb I thought to

Be stitches and done

With this first hospital

Visit, never thought I

Would walk in this space

Where wounded men and

Women abode as the foray

Of nature’s gravity would explode

On them.

 

In upright position

My hand lay stricken

Your bravery,

Remembering

Spring break

2001, we never

Wanted it to end

With Jared’s RockScar

Three fingers from his

Thumb, this tale

Will never be forgotten.