Date: 2007-05-02
From: Mt. Collins

To: Tri-Corner Knob
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Once again, the first one out of the shelter and only one other guy attempted the 20 I did today. He just made it here around 7:30. Today's first 5 miles took me to Newfound Gap, the gateway to Gatlinburg, so there were naturally many tourists here. The great thing is that because I was the first one there, I was a celebrity. People came in flocks..."you're a thru hiker?!?!"...."can I take your picture?!?!"...."take this!!" That last one was by far my favorite. I only spent 30 minutes in the gap and I scored 3 apples, 2 bags of homemade trail mix, 1 bag of potato chips, a bottle of water, and a COLD 16oz. beer!! What a way to start a day!Soon after the hike out of the gap, I ran into an ATC Ridgeruner named Shatter. Real cool guy with some interesting beliefs and an interesting life. 3 suicide attempts, which he says he learned one concept out of each...peac, love, and harmony. He made a complete turnaround and "shatter"ed the walls that were keeping him closed in. He thru-hiked in '99 and been working for the ATC since. Made most of today real easy, giving me someone with which to discuss my own beliefs. He did make me somewhat uncomfortable given the fact that he was gay and insisted on following behind me to the shelter. But still, I was able to relate so well as he quoted one of my favorite poets, Saul Williams. Untimely MeditationsThe fiery sun of my passions evaporates the love lakes of my soul clouds my thoughts and rains you into existence as i take flight on bolts of lighting claiming chaos as my concubine and you as my me i of the storm you of the sea we of the moon land of the free what have i done to deserve this? am i happy? happiness is a mediocre sin set for a middle-class existence i see through smiles and smell truth in the distance beyond one dimensional smiles and laughter lies are hereafter where tears echo laughter you¢d have to do math to divide a smile by a tear times fear equals mere truth. i simply delve in the air and if that¢s the case, all i have to breath and all else will follow, that¢s why drums are hollow, and i like drums drums are good but i cant think straight i lack the attention span to meditate my attention spans galaxies here and now are immense seconds are secular, moments are mine, self is illusion, music¢s divine. noosed by the strings of jimmy¢s guitar i swing purple hazed pendulum hypnotizing the part of i that never dies, look into my eyes are the windows of the soul. it¢s fried chicken collies and cornbread, its corn milk flour sour cream eggs and oil. its the stolen blood of the earth, used to make cars run and kill the fish. who me? i play scales. the scales of dead fish of oil slicked seas my sister blows wind through the hollows of fallen tress and we are the echoes of eternity, echoes of eternity, echoes of eternity maybe you heard of us, we do rebirths, revokes and resurrections we threw basement parties in pyramids, i left my tag on the wall, the beats would echo of the stone and solidify into the form of light bulbs, destined to light of the heads of future generations they¢re releasing it up in the form of ohm. Maybe you heard of us. If not then you must be trying to hear us, in such cases we can¢t be heard we remain in the darkness unseen, in the center of unpeeled bananas we exist uncolored by perception, clothed to the naked eye, five senses cannot sense the fact of our existence and that's the only fact, in fact there are no facts, fax me a fact and i¢ll telegram i¢ll hologram i¢ll telephone the son of man and tell him he is done. leave a message on his answering machine telling him there are none. god and i are one. times moon times star times sun, the factor is me, you remember me, i slung amethyst rocks on saturn blocks ¢til i got caught up by earthling cops. they wanted me for their army or whatever. picture me, i swirl like the wind tempting tomorrow to be today, tiptoing the fine line between everything and everything else. i am simply saturn swirling sevenths through sooth the sole living air of air and I, and, and all else follows. reverberating the space inside of drum hollows. package and bottles and chips and tomorrow then sold to the highest nigga. i swing to the tallest tree, lynched by the lowest branches of me, praying that my physical will set me free cause i¢m afraid that all else is vanity mere language is profanity, i¢d rather hum or have my soul tattooed to my tongue and let the scriptures be sung in gibberish as words be simple fish in my soulquarium. and intellect can¢t swim so i stopped combing my mind so my thoughts could lock. i¢m tired of trying to understand. perceptions are mangled matted and knotted anyway. life is more than what meet the eye and I, so elevate I to the third and even that shit seems absurb and your thoughts leave you third (eye)solated. no man is an island but i often feel alone, so i find peace through OMHe actually did quote the entire poem. Inspiring. I don't know that I can follow that with anything of my own, so I'm declaring this one finished.