Remembering Ray

I slice the land in half

Blank brown belt invisible in the blackness

Alone with the lines in the road

And a smattering of lights in the land and sky

And you.

This journey isn’t for the sights marking the coast

Or the dining along the way

It isn’t for anything that I can see

It’s a pilgrimage, for you.

Suddenly you’re everywhere

Sitting in my passenger’s seat

Tickling my shoulder

Joking that it’s about time I came to visit

Veer west again toward the damp chill of the coast

Strong, spicy eucalyptus air

No one knows quite what you meant to me

Not even me

Now that you have left us fleshy, fallible creatures

Maybe you do.

Alone, among hundreds

My eyes begin to flood

One continuous stream of tears

Interrupted by the laughter

In celebration of your fun and games

And weeping for the loss

Of a light I could only capture

In pictures and words.

What have you become?

Does your spirit now live in the rays

Of my ever sinking sun?

Can I see you every day

As I mourn that I’ll never see you

Ever again?

Ray

To anyone stumbling across this page as a friend of Ray’s, my name is Erica.  Ray and I wrote together in this WordPress blog.  Many of these posts are his own creative work.

For those of you stumbling across this page as a friend of mine, or someone who generally does not know either of us, let me just share that Ray was a funny, quirky, creative and all around nice guy.  From what I knew of him, he was a talented writer and musician, and someone who I was honored to know, let alone write with.

At this point, I’ll probably keep this blog just as it is.  If ever a new post makes its way onto this page, it will be only as an honor to Ray’s life.

Thank you, readers and writers, for stopping by and honoring my friend.

Erica

Mists

The sound was mostly silence. At a passing glance, there was nothing. But I stopped, and with my eyes watched the mist hang heavy from the trees. A blanket of moisture warming the wilderness. There was something there. A stillness. But alive. Branches and water and silence. And me. Alone and stumbling on the rocks and roots of mighty forest. This ancient forest. This feeling of loneliness. I did not know where I was headed, but I pressed onward. Pushing back against civilization, and forever into the woods ahead.

West

Cliff thoughts

Mountains burning

Foggy, smoky, shoot straight through

Seems that everyone here knows

The joy crafted from the hazy way we drop things

Things that were cozy, but incomplete

Could have gotten through this maze just fine with them

But I went all in, and now with nothingness

I bake on the burnt sienna shoulder

Stare out into the hills, where I have no name

But rather, a much clearer place.

Sheets.

I told her I had just washed my sheets. And she replied,
“Well, let’s mess them up.”

Fragments

Something muttered 4 years back
Talk is cheap these days
The voice is so near
But a fortune couldn’t reach that extra inch
To make it come alive again

A picture on the wall
I stared at it for years
And wished that it would go away
Now it’s gone
I’d give the world for one more look

Alone with my thoughts again
A fragmented picture of Life
Never fully reached my view
Probably never will
But I carry every part at all times.

Mud.

Stick to me
After all, it’s just your skin
And you could wash me
Away,
If that’s how you prefer things.

Haikuesday: Zombie

 

Heap of cheapened flesh

I will massacre your brain

You ooze and you lose.

Ran.

Let’s drink this in
As stones from the earth
Let’s reflect
As a dusty floor
And let’s forget
And run
Away
Copper, blood, teeth,
Freedom.

He could feel it in his lungs. It was an atmosphere around him. Tonight would be it. As he headed toward the alley by the clock tower his pulse quickened, and he smiled at the temptations ahead.