Horse Pen Branch campsite

my little fire and I

spent the first few hours

of darkness

making smoke

to chase away dusk mosquitoes.

two days from Washington

I was already missing the trail

behind me.

I fed sticks to flames

until I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

my hair was choke cherry

and sumac burned branches

as I slipped through sleep

and dreams.

June, 1992, near the end of a solo 200 mile run from Cumberland, Maryland to Washington, DC, along the C&O Canal towpath.

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Monkeys: There are no monkeys here. If you're looking for monkeys, go away. Well, actually there are monkeys, but they're of the hairless variety that writes poetry and such. If that's not what you're looking for move along.