River Flint

Look at how red that star is.  Oh, I know, my pillowcase was soaking wet.  Did you just text me?  I never use the hand dryer.  You know that door makes a lot of noise when it bangs shut, right?  I don’t have any idea what time it is.  The insects are happy.  I can see Orion’s belt now.  Can you imagine coming out here before the road was paved?  I don’t know if those people are just getting up or if they never even went to sleep.  The river’s gonna feel good tomorrow.  Why do you have that rubber band around your wrist?  It is not possible to drink enough water.  Is your dog dreaming in his sleep?

***

Man, where’d you find all that kindling?  If you saw Orion’s belt that high above the horizon in the middle of September it had to be two a.m.  Yeah, I had to wear ear plugs.  Can kayaks leave a wake?  Something absconded with the chips last night.  What’s this spongy stuff?  That guy slept in his van.  I dreamt about box fans.  What time are they picking us up?  You can’t use that kind of pen on these notebooks.  If it rains on your birthday that’s good luck, right?  Those look like chigger bites to me.  Almost nobody was wearing a mask.  If you saw a reddish star that bright it was probably just Mars.  It’ll go back up eventually.  That fire’s going good now.  Of course I brushed my teeth.  Did you hear those ducks going at it in the middle of the night?  Well, I’m supposed to wear a biteguard.  It was worse inside the tent, believe me.  I gargle if I can.  Dogs actually shed a lot this time of the year.  The whole thing was so stupid.  Is he just going to keep going back and forth like that?  Oh, that’s a cute mask.  It’s amazing those things float. I don’t know, I think it’ll be fun.  That was definitely an owl.  What’s that movie where they all scramble like hell to get ready for the airport?  You’re gonna have to get somebody back out here to take some photos.  Hey, how easy is it to tear these things in two?  Holler if you want a muffin.  Did water get in there?  Well, I was looking for my headlamp but it was one of those things where I needed my headlamp to find it.  I’m in fine fiddle with an hour to spare.  Those clouds do look pretty thick over there.  I always travel with a couple of little soaps.  Eh, I’ll sleep on the river.  

***

I’ve been sitting out here for hours.  This sounds like a cover.  Did you ever notice how rain tiptoes its way across a river?  We raise our eyes to the hills.  You gotta stop and smell the roses with us.  Do you think all of these rocks used to be arrowheads?  I’ve had it since I was born.  This is a good view right here.  Right there where that tree almost fell.  It’s on my phone.  Why would you want to buy a kayak?  I don’t normally want photos of myself but this is different.  The only bad thing about these sunglasses is that they’re not polarized.  I’d call that a conference of dragonflies.  Is that guy writing in the river?  It probably won’t be here when we come back next year.  Get out of my ear, bug.  This river is like one of those motorized walkways.  The fog’s back!  Not unless you’re going to a place where tours aren’t given. 

***

Saturday night always ends up being the chill night.  I think my mom stitched that.  It probably rained here twice.  Is that John Prine?  You remember that time you left the trunk open and raccoons went in there and ate all the bread and shit?  This recipe didn’t have quite as much oatmeal in it as the other one.  You’ve got to treat everything like it’s holy.  Is that a leaf or a moth?  Fall starts as a fog on a river in late summer.  This one could have been a tool of some sort, a scraper maybe.  OK, you can put the sleeping bags back in the tents now.  But insects feel otherwise.  I thought it might have been a dog at first.  Well, he didn’t want to hear it anymore.  I’m just gonna be so glad to close my eyes.  

***

A gravel bar on the river late at night.  An empty cooler.  Two abandoned leashes.  Bats in the flashlight beam eating breakfast.  Tomorrow we’ll let our dirty clothes drive us home.