"washington square."

counting crows.

one tree hill.

eagle canyon, utah.

may 30, 2009.

all of this actually feels like summer. LA. beach. kites. windy sunny golden days. back home in Texas, steamy hot blazing asphalt on which you can fry an egg summer... that's just hot. 

but here in LA, now I know why everyone writes songs about California summer. 

so today... let's have some summer. left the house, ran to the beach, sprinting across the streets in front of flying cars... nice cars, with owners in too much of a hurry to see the clouds wafting across the sky... the kid with the ice cream cone all over his face. the couple hand in hand. all the remarkables. 

sprint 'cross the street. through the crowd. onto the sand. pause to shed clothes. straight into the surf. so cold. exhilaration. and sucked into the surf. back out. grab clothes, shoes, across the sand, through the crowd, sprinting all the way home with the legs of adrenaline. 

so, i say, that's what summer is. i've been wondering for so long. 

waves.

california. 

golden summer sunbeams glinting through the clouds. sky turns pink. sand between my toes. tide crashes in. LA lights down the beach. planes taking off. the breakwater breaks. waves launch upward and man i gotta learn how to surf. 

water runs up around my feet. and i dream about the lands across that ocean, wondering what they thought when they didn't know what lay across the horizon, those other lands on the other side of the world. they didn't know. but i do. and i wanna go there. 

and the ocean's breathing real salty tonight. you can feel it on your face, in your hair. on your skin. smell it laced in the air. that sea smell. 

and look up at the stars. think 'bout distant lands brings distant yous to mind. we breathed the salty together. 

where are you now? 

you know how the waves crash, and the surf roars and the birds beating their wings overhead and the wind in your ears drowns out all thought and all imagining... you know? but then that moment of beautiful silence. the peace. waves stop for only a moment. wind dies. and in that moment, the ocean is still, and everything goes white. clear. just a glimpse of the light. 

then crash. 

les miserables.

freedom. sometimes words just can't express the deepest emotions of the human heart. the deepest beauty. the deepest pain. the deepest love. can't even come close. 

"jean valjean, you are free."

long live the revolution.

freedom. 

you got eyes.

drivin'drivin' cross the usa cross the usa. big mountains little towns colors cross the sky cross the sky. independence pass and you're weaving turning up and around and around 12,000 ft top of the world it seems. point where rivers meet and break up. you go this way i go mine. 

walk cross the snow cross the snow in my chacos watch the skiers in may cross the mount cross the mount. keep drivin'drivin' down down follow the river rages in white water all the way down. all.the.way.down. keep drivin'drivin' oh this is aspen and it's something new. oh how it's something new. look at those streets with those shops and those girls dressed up in summer sun summer sun. strands of hair you shine on me in summer sun. shine on me. shine on me. 

through the speakers comes edge blazin' through those strings and we're singing in god's country in god's country. look at the map joshua tree too far south so we just listen 'cuz it still fits out here as green hills of aspen turn to open lands. 

drivin'drivin' cross the usa cross the usa. utah. sign for moab. big sky country, that's what this is and the clouds just go up up up into blue. sky so blue it's just right there at my fingertips. that's what it is. cross the barren lands and now into river valley. might colorado goes on forever red-brown water red-brown hills this is america. i mean, this is america. and i'm alive. oh so alive. arches national park and red arches stand up and grab the sky the sky but fall back down locked into rock forever. down through mountains, deserts, deserts, deserts endless lands forsaken by man and beast alike. but still, life everywhere. that's it. life everywhere. spinnin' horizons. skew the frame. don't listen to them. do something new. that's what the sky told me. that's what she told me. she's gotta be a she. because she's beautiful and i want her. i want her. this is what i dream about on nights layin up and looking deep lookin deep cross the sky cross the sky. 

then camp. 

cream of wheat and moving again. cross the mount cross the mount down into valley and this is Zion National Park and sandstone cliffs grab grab grab for something up there. something outside of us. outside of me. mountain lion country. i'm imagining him there, silhouetted against that same blue that same blue. in god's country again. but eddie, you sing, you sing that it's a big hard sun but we ain't goin' back no more no more. nomorenomorenomore. we singin' no more. pool against cliffs. too many people. 

"they try to tear the mountains down, to bring in a couple more. 

more people, more scars across the land." -john denver

nevada desert. shiny mirrors blinding me. city in a desert? who thought 'o that? crazy people, we americans. americans we. vegas shines and screams it's mantra... screams screams it. 

cross the sand cross the sand. california baby. baby come with me california. new state and mountains turn be hills be green be hazed.in smog. LA huge oh so big. but no more crossin' usa crossin' usa this the end, man, this the end. so rad. beach and surf and sunset on an ocean. now that's new. land face west and go west no more young man. you gone west and here you are the end of the road venice beach baby that's where we are. 

i told me (myself and i) gonna change the world, man, we gonna change the world. you say no, but man i believe we gonna change the world. that love gonna come set me free set me free man. free we gonna be free no matter what it takes 'cuz we were born to run. cuz they ain't no reason man they ain't no reason that things gonna stay this way. now we gonna blow these whistles round our necks round our necks. this ain't just america man. it's the world. and it's beautiful this world this world. we're here and we're alive and we can see. you got eyes baby. you got eyes. 

"Robert Frank, Swiss, unobtrusive, nice with little camera that he raises and snaps with one hand he sucked a sad poem right out of America onto film, taking rank among the tragic poets of this world.

To Robert Frank I now give this message: You got eyes. "

baby you got eyes so look me in mine open mine cuz i can't see i can't see.