My Reptilian Brain

   Climbing an invisible, hallucinated staircase, high on organic belladonna plucked fresh off the tree by me hours earlier high in the Guatemalan mountains, Gene and I were then arrested on suspicion of substance abuse, awaiting release through bribery. Some memories, like this  Guatemalan belladonna one, bring flashbacks like roll call at reveille. "I am Jim Anders, not all present, not all accounted for, sir." Sometimes I have to surrender to the present, surrender and strive to save whatever little time and mind I have left….


from All Drinking Aside (Rough Draft, Chapter 36)