Panama 1989

(REGNAR)

I jump into nothingness,

From screeching, droning blackness.

A thousand stuttering embers

Rushing up on arcs of electric fire.

Red flowers blossoming beautifully,

Far underneath my feet,

As the trees and grass wave wildly

Anticipating their catch.

I land on my back in a raging storm.

Hail rushing, snapping by my face

As I gaze up at the stars, I’m overcome:

“My GOD, so unbelievably close!”

The foreign grass bruised by my fall

Smells of hot, deep southern, summer morns

Driving straight down country roads

While farmers cut sweet sacrifices down.

I stalk forward, harboring in tight-reined chaos

Every particle in my being screaming together.

I move cautiously, an alien in a faraway land,

But I meet Another and Another and Another.

Now we scream together at a whisper, “Bulldog!”

We creep in complete confidence and cadence.

Each hand knows the other is a brother, a killer:

Ten feet tall and bulletproof, together.

I see the Preacher silhouetted in the sky.

He stands atop a lichened rock vault

Planting Glory on our “Arch of Triumph”.

He jumped into hell with only a knife.

Then there is the other one, the Greek god.

All through the night he strode,

Collecting brown ghosts in white trousers.

How did these men find heroes in themselves?

I rush forward as dawn breaks blood red.

Shoot and move, shoot and move, an automaton.

Every rock a fortress, every tree a barricade,

Acrid bitter smoke biting my tongue and eyes.

The glowing hornets raging past my ears

Making hurried snaps on single-minded journeys.

I shriek a primal scream, mixed laughter and rage

As I meet the ONE that bears my name.

I lie in a broken awkward pose

Fluid puzzle pieces of my life

Seep into the ground beside me.

My breath rattles a snare drum sound.

There is no pain, only peace in my soul.

I hear the Wop, Wop, Wop as angels come.

They lift me and I float above the Kuna grass,

And I jump… into nothingness.

RLTW!