HELLO STRANGER

HELLO STRANGER

I was told

my place

in  the universe

while walking

from

motor-pool

to

barracks

on an army base

in Germany

stoned

A joint

rolled in ‘Nam

sealed in an envelope

traveled through the

Army Post Office

and arrived

on my desk

potent

PO-tent

A couple tokes

and I slipped

outside

myself

and

entered

a

message-center

where

I

was

informed

of who

I was

&

where

I

lived.

1966.  I was stationed on the Coleman Kaserne, in Gelnhausen, Germany.

A suspicious envelope arrived on my desk.  It had no return address.  There was nothing inside but a big, fat joint.  I had a pretty good idea who it was from, but how it got through the Army postal system without being confiscated, stolen, or me busted, I had no idea.  It may be that all the way down the line, whoever handled it was just as stoned as I was about to get.  There were a lot of stoners serving in 1966.

I decided to work late, and allowed some time to pass after the last person left the office before I locked the doors, pulled the shades, turned out the lights, and lit up. I sucked down two hits, and went from nervous to stoned, 0 to 60, in no time flat.

Those were the days of carbon copies, and onion skin paper.  Before long, my desk was covered in pink onion skin and I was agog at the works of man, the play of light, and the wonder of color.

After I came down a little, I straightened out my desk, left and re-locked the office, and huddled behind an armored personnel carrier where I had one or two more hits before I began the long walk up the hill to Company A barracks.

I was about half-way home when the telegram came, and I was welcomed into the life of all things.

I

spent

the next

twenty years

chasing

that

one

high.

RW

Seattle

08.30.2019