The Ballad Of Joshua Tree (Finally) (AKA, "Thank You, Friends"

So, this one was six weeks in coming. And while I felt good writing it, I felt rather narcissistic rapping it for Alex and Rob (haven't done it for Fiona yet); it felt weird to write something so long, as if it presumed that anyone would want to hear me for that long a period of time. The thing has three verses and a half, after all.

One thing I've been thinking--I don't presume to be very good, and I wonder how good my stuff reads, since I mean for it to be done in specific cadences. I also wonder if those cadences seem natural when the words are read. Thoughts? Guess that's what practice is for.

Anyway, here it is. It's meant to be slow burnt, for the most part.

I'm ashamed to stand up here and spit
Anything I say is going to be shit
Three nights and two days at Joshua Tree
Just two cars, a tent, my friends, and me
I was in awe at the things we saw
The time we shared was beyond compare
It seems absurd to put it in words
To encapsulate it all, from the beer to the birds
But how can I not give it a shot
This is how I give back the love that I got
And when I sat out there under the stars
I was inspired to write a few bars
To tell you how we conquered stones
and cliffs like ice cream cones
and the bleached granite bones
of evil dead men
we would mount them
and when we stopped to rest
we could smell smoke and rain
and feel the earth in our chests
We watched clouds like the pillars of God
thicker than the beard of Agamemnon
heavy and pregnant as a promise made ready to break
lighter than the wisps of a dream before you wake
They were beautiful
We watched them build and spill, blend and mix
that moment was like pulling myself out of the river Styx
I felt the scene start
to heal the hole in my soul and heart
Sitting there beneath a burning russet sky
I was finally pushing back the fire of love pushed aside
and for that,
I need to thank you, friends

At J-Tree was when I was forced to face a fear of my own end
It began with the Bong on the Blob, a 5-5
didn't know I was supposed to stay alive
first trip AKN jumped on lead belay
so Fiona could step up, and make her way
Fi scrambled up, no sweat
did it anti-grav, like Bo' Fett
Rob went up next to clean the pro
the two make it seem like an easy show
Rob rappeled down, to hand me a harness
saw the look on my face assured me it's harmless
but I don't believe him
and Narvell gives me a reason
She's climbing slower and when she hits the crux
she gets stuck and almost fucked
her leg starts shaking and when she calls for help her voice is breaking
thirty feet below I can hear her heavy breathing
and in the pit of my stomach I've got a bad feeling
But then she finds a pinch
and she gains an inch
and then another
now the top is right above her
and she's there.

And it's my turn.

My stomach's churning.
I'm getting wrapped and strapped and I'm tying the knots
I take a deep breath and hope for the best but my nerves are shot
only make it a few feet before I slip
my foothold doesn't work, and I lose my grip
I'm on belay so I only fall a few feet
but freefall feels like forever when you think you're dead meat
Then - of course - the rope's catching
I'm on the end, dangling and retching
bleeding and crying
thinking of dying
thanking God and loving Fiona
stinking and sweating and smelling ammonia
But I know I'm going to live
so I'm feeling a bit empowered.
and i've always believed quitting is for the cowards
so I try a half dozen more times
but I can't make the climb can't beat the crux
I've got no skill, no clue, and no luck
on top of it all, apparently, my shoes suck
So beforew we go anywhere else
I hit town and rent shoes for myself
We head back to the desert
back to the hills and dust
I'm going to make it to the top or bust
We scramble through brambles and over boulders
stumble across a rattler and give it the cold shoulder
Finally we make it to the climb
the others do their thing while I recline on a rock and rhyme
but when I get up I'm not feeling too great
my ankle is sore and won't support my weight
And there it is--a way out
a way to beg off and no one will know I'm a lout
I think hard about taking it
but I know I'll know I'm faking it
fuck it, I'm going to earn myself some pride
Gonna bite back the pain and rediscover what's inside
so I push my fingers bloody back into the rock
but shoes or not I'm still racing the clock
will or not my hands and arms are old news
push as I can try as I might this wall I can't do
Halfways is all I got, feet done arms shot
But I tried
I looked inside my mind
found something to turn back the tide
of inferiority and self-doubt
my inner well of power, of fire, of fuck you - I let it out
So I'm tired and bleeding
but it's that good pain of not kneeling
tomorrow's another day and I'll make the rock pay
I'm still not going to look down
and see how far below is the ground
No, I don't totally trust in the rope
but I'll be damned if I'm gonna choke
So when I feel myself slip and start to scream
I'm gonna turn it to jet fuel and ride it up the seam
The next day we drove out to the place
the sun's just breaking over the rock's face
and when it's my turn
I'm more than ready for the burn
I slip on my new shoes and tie the knots myself
fuck my eyes that quarter-inch ledge is big as a shelf
I'm flying up the rock, willing to toejam and flag
gonna hit the top, this shit is in the bag
see I'm moving like a girl
the beaner at the top is gleaming like a pearl
I don't know how it happened, I know I made it
I know I wanted, saw, and craved it
My shirt's flapping in the wind
I'm grinning like a fool because I didn't break or bend
It was a feeling of triumph I'd never had
--yeah, look at me, I'm bad
I wanted to prove it twice
so I moved to the left and did it again
and for pushing and cheering and showing the way: I just want to thank you, friends

You're two thirds newfound and all on whom I can depend
We never showered and our laughter flowed like waterfalls
Murdered idyllic days and held hands while we watched the sun fall
We ate loaves of bread and beat back hordes of ants
scarcely did we think to wear anything so stupid as pants
we bore the burden of a disease known as fat kid syndrome
yet any challenge faced we laughed and yelled "come get some"
we relied on the skill of a few and the will of the rest
the ability to cook in a fire lie in two but an appetite in all four chests
at first we crammed sideways in a tent
when things got sweaty some of us got up and went
the next night we'd say fuck it and lie under the stars on a pad
i'd be a bitch and feeling kinda sad
while the tiny ones are dry humping behind Alex kinda bad
now, AKN and I aren't getting mad
they may be grinding with no shame
but we think it's kinda funny just the same
we spent the night killing Newcastle brews
standing atop rock piles chugging with no shoes
night and day, we're building bridges outta cards
twelve years later the ladies stop talking, and the beating starts
never fear we can retaliate in the form of neverending farts
middle of the day we might be slugging fat blue bulldog
bright and early in the morn Rob and I tear off on a jog
I"m sporting shorts from my sis that almost show my log
Sprinting back to camp for mate to clear the brain fog
Now, we gotta coupla headlamps
to help us in the dark like punch-drunk champs
By their light bags of punjabi we make
we're adding two pounds of cheese to make it dank
we're sittin and sippin and gettin silly
rob and i are laughing and chugging turkey chili
tearing ass and ripping jokes until the ladies are begging please
and you'd be astounded how Kobe takes the lane after that amount of cheese
amidst all this silly talk
fi still beats a boulder with just a bit of chalk
and were there any question in our mind that these nights were ours
then Zeus erased them -- when he led us to the place
ripping apart the sky only before the way we faced
with that light to guide our cars
we knew this surface of mars
this wonderful land -- it was ours
and for that, and everything besides, I want to thank you, friends

See, you're all just a godsend
for I can look down the barrel of my week
and know it's been awhile
since I didn't feel stressed and stretched
halfway down the green mile
since I was head above the bullshit
wore a happy, genuine smile
but out here, it's plastered on
the kind you get from great laughs and shitty wine
from dumping cheese in your indian food and
not counting the seconds that pass time
for that
for cheering
for pushing showing laughing
for being there
for reminding me
for the memories
---I want to thank you, friends