A Long Strange Trip

Saturday Stories

February 9, 2019

I

The American humorist W.C. Fields once said "Some things are better than sex, and some are worse, but there's nothing exactly like it." Creative Talents Unleashed, an independent publisher in California where I've been a Featured Writer, has just released their latest anthology, Naughty Nuts & Bolts.

II

In the book is my narrative poem, "A Long Strange Trip," a coming-of-age story which can also be interpreted as a metaphor for sex. It is originally a part of one of my poetry duets with award-winning international author Elizabeth Castillo whose poem, "Temptation," is also featured.

III

My ABABAB rhyme form and 7-5-7-7-7-5 beat is inspired by "Sorrow" by Edna St. Vincent Millay – "Sorrow like a ceaseless rain/ Beats upon my heart./ People twist and scream in pain, —/ Dawn will find them still again;/ This has neither wax nor wane,/ Neither stop nor start..."

IV

And my title is inspired by the rock classic by Grateful Dead – "Sometimes the light's all shinin' on me ... other times I can barely see ... lately it occurs to me ... what a long ... strange trip it's been..." 🎶

A Long Strange Trip

By Jonathan Huggybear

I

You took me from the city,

away from the lights, 

so many things you showed me: 

twin peaks of wuthering heights,

a forest of mystery,

and more wondrous sights

II

So we went into the woods

as you held my hand,

I left behind my childhood

like sailors leave the mainland,

and new things I understood,

though nothing was planned.

III

At times I was going faster,

but it was a game:

you and I were explorers

for a prize we will both claim

at last we crossed the borders

and blessedly, we came.

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Truckin'

Grateful Dead