The death of a moon cowboy

I am a somewhat-youth with ideas and thoughts and too many dreams that sometimes overflow as these little dribblings from my fingertips. I guess you can try to collect and capture them.


Saturday, February 14, 2009

The red stain

On the ankle of an old sock,
faint and red like sandstone dust,
a borrowed climbing shoe left its mark,
its memory, a reminder of that night
in December when it snowed silently,
and we stole some midnight
hours in the closed gym--
lights on, music roaring,
we scaled artificial walls and laughed
and discussed the future and his
impending departure to warmer climes--
a relocation to the western coast,
divided by scales of land and road,
desert and mountain ranges and
straight-on highways that
connect us like
pinpricks of light in a grand global constellation.

--- ---

In late December a good friend of mine moved away. Beforehand we spent some good time together--some of it climbing at The Quarry in Provo. He's an expert climber and showed me a thing or two. One night we climbed alone until 3 am, enjoying each other's company before he moved on to a different part of his life.

3 comments:

Susan said...

Mattie, I love the way you describe the country separating you guys. How fun that must have been climbing together until 3 a.m. This sounds a bit nostalgic too. You must miss him. I love it! I can just see the two of you together in that closed gym. That's what poetry is to me, those word pictures that make you understand. You're awesome!

Anonymous said...

this is a wonderful post you made..
reminiscing all your happy moments with your friend is a fun way of looking back at your friendship..
btw, i really liked your blog..

mattbeatty said...

Thanks for the kind words!