Wood Stalked
(at the “45th Anniversary of Woodstock” Celebration)
August 16, 2014, Ajijic, Mexico

45 years after Woodstock, all the hippies came back out to play
as the old folks all pulled out their tie-dye and folded their spandex away.
When we entered they gave us a name tag. Is this how they did it back then?
Did Janis consent to a name tag with her name neatly written in pen?
We sat in the shade at a table most far from the music by choice.
Regretting its decibel level and regretting its lack of a voice.
No Arlo, no Jimi, no Creedence. No Richie or Ravi Shankar.
Somehow I fear that the music was certainly quite under par.
I brought out the I Ching and Tarot. I thought it fit in with the age.
It had been a long time since such pastimes were considered to be all the rage.
Though I read off the Tarot to one friend and threw the I Ching with one more,
the party we got here at three for still hadn’t started by four.
Most had made a great effort with Afros or falls of long hair,
yet nobody ended up naked. Nobody ended up bare.
Most people sported a peace sign and many had felt tip tattoos;
and though no one lined up for the dance floor, everyone lined up for booze.
By five, thanks to fruit margaritas of mango or kiwi or cherry
the band began sounding much better and the vocalist sounded like Jerry!
Most folks flooded onto the dance floor to gyrate in front of the band
while I still remained at our table, arranging a new Tarot hand.
I dealt out the ten cards correctly after asking the question I wished—
willing to read my life’s menu of whatever providence dished.
My cards did not read as I wished them. They did not turn out to my taste.
Yet the final card said I’d be lucky, though I fear that I viewed it in haste.
As a crack split the air up above us and I heard a great crash on the ground,
Everyone looked up from tables to see what had made such a sound.
Then people began to rush over and I, too, looked in back of me
to discover a huge branch had fallen from the very top part of our tree.
The branch that had fallen was heavy as a twenty foot branch may well be,
and this branch that had fallen just seconds ago had gone down only inches from me!
If I had been two inches nearer, I probably would now be dead,
for the branch that came down in such furor must have passed just that close to my head!!!
I folded the Tarot cards up then and tucked my I Ching coins away.
I’d had all the luck that I needed, for I had survived one more day.

(For an Addendum to this poem, go Here.)