Sunday, March 19, 2023

  All Text, Music, and Illustrations, including Paintings, Photographs, and 3D models, Copyright © 2022 by Jim Robbins.

Kings River, above the Submerged Car



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KINGS RIVER MEDITATIONS



A cute girl, possibly

thirteen, legs crossed, 

eyes closed, twenty feet

from the Kings River, 

remained totally unaware

that my friend and I

were gawking

at her. Grabbing

a smooth stone, the size

of an egg, my friend

lifted his arm, muttering

curses at her, and I

lunged to stop him. Two

years older and stronger, 

my friend just frowned 

in disgust and dropped 

the stone, stumbling off. 

The girl never stirred.

And I never got the nerve

to ask her what

she was doing. I finally

scurried away, infatuated,

never to see the girl

again. Cross-legged

by the Kings River, almost 

forty years later, 

close to the spot where 

she had meditated,

I remember a photo of me

and my friend holding up

with pride a necklace

of fish.  That same 

morning, forty years

ago, I had spotted

a car in the depths

of the river and shouted

for them to come see.

No matter how excitedly

I pointed, none of them

could perceive the faint

shadow of the car

beneath the glittering

surface of the water,

so no one believed me.

Our fathers both died

a few years later,

my friend gone

to some other state.

The hood of the car

has surfaced,

caught on a rock, tilted

like a stiff, flat tongue.

I close my eyes and empty

my mind, hearing the water

rushing by and then

nothing at all, everything

gone but my awareness

of the void.  But then I feel

and see a sun in my heart

and a golden-equal armed 

cross on my forehead--

I open my eyes, surprised

that I had so quickly

forgotten the people

and the river as I

gaze at bending reeds

And slippery stones

And rushing water....







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    All Text, Music, and Illustrations, including Paintings, Photographs, and 3D models, Copyright © 2022 by Jim Robbins. Two of Pentacles: ...