Psilocybin

1999
The year I graduated high school
The year I started college, reluctantly
Thought I was so cool

1999
And what is forefront in my mind
is psilocybin

Mind bent
on magic mushrooms

1999
I’d tried it before
and acid too
because, after all
marijuana
is the gateway drug

So what’s the big deal?
The big deal is
me and half a dozen friends
ingested a large quantity
of caps & stems
crystalline blue

and we gobbled them down
about a quarter each

1999
The baddest trip
I’d ever flip
sprouted from cow shit

1999
And I knew I couldn’t drive
But I wanted to be home
And nothing else mattered

Gave my keys
to my best friend
Said we need to go
I’m tired
You’re tired?!

Another friend passed out
Hit his head on a
pinball machine
I’d wished I’d done the same

1999
We hit the highway
Bright lights
were halos
from fallen angels

1999
Convinced I would die
right here on I-25
Just blood stains
and crushed metal remains

1999
But it was not my time

We got off
not two exits later
Pulled over into
an empty lot
My hooded sweatshirt
on backwards
merging with my skin
like a Spider-Man villain

1999
Fumbling for my cigarettes

We’re dying!
Oh shit!
We’re dying!
This is what it’s like!

So we got out of the van
marched into a 7-Eleven
That poor store clerk

Call an ambulance!
We’re dying!
Eyes were silver dollars

1999
I gave the paramedic
the last of my weed
Said I won’t be needing this

1999
Couldn’t remember my address
or for fuck’s sake my phone number

And in the hospital
all I got
was a lousy valium
and a phone call to a parent

The doctor was a smug bastard
Said, no, you’re not going to die
like someone had lied to us
from the very start

1999
That was an
interesting ride home
But at least I
was coming
down

1999
And boy was my dad pissed
At least I’d lived to die another day

Written for dVerse “1999” poetry prompt.

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