Thirty-Four

I'm lounging by the pool today. These are some old prayers in stone on the banks of the Flint River, erected by some unknown natives of yesteryear...I don't know fer shure, but when I was there with La Familia a few days ago, the location of these stone features felt very much like a graveyard by the river.

Thanks to Whitey, rivers in Georgia suck. They all look like choco-milk, when, in reality, they should look like crystalline ribbons of glass, thick with trout. But, no. They look like shit on rye.

I tried to look up a quote from the journals of Lewis & Clark that would support my claim that Georgia rivers were once beautiful and clear, but apparently now when you type "Lewis & Clark" into a search engine, you get links to twelve bookstores, an anti-abortion counseling center, two law firms, and a 18+ only porn site for dolphin lovers...but no snappy quotes about Georgia's alluvial ecosystem. So it goes. Guess I'll just hafta make one up:

(fade in, it is morning in Carolina. The sun is glowing in the East like a red hot ember. Lewis has just scrambled the last of the eggs)

Clark: Is that the last of the eggs?

Lewis: And you know this.

Clark: Is there enough for me?

Lewis: What do you think?

Clark: Damn you, Lewis. That's what I think.

(Lewis pokes a forkful of the steaming eggs into his mouth while Clark begins foraging for berries)

Lewis: How 'bout those Georgia rivers we navigated last week?

(Clark has located a patch of wild blackberries, and is mirthlessly plucking them from the vine.)

Clark: Aw, man. They were something else.

Lewis: I know, right? So clear, so...

Clark: So pristine. (Blackberry juice streams out the corners of his mouth, into his beard.)

Lewis: You disgust me, you know that?

Clark: Yes, I do.

(fade out)

...so that proves it. Anyway, I hiked these woods by the river a whole lot when I was a boy, but only a few days ago did I discover this honest-to-God historical site. I took a few photos. These are they. I gotta give thanks and props to the real deal Americans for doing what they did here. These stone formations are more thoughtful and poignant and ethically grounded than anything I've seen in any art museum in recent history. Then again, I don't get out that much.