15 Write about a Moment of When You Felt Freedom

The Grand Tetons

The night

I slept under the stars

in that big Wyoming Sky

and awoke to see

the brown mountains

rise like warm bread

in an orange sky

was the first time

I felt it,

That flutter,

that twinge.

that spinning,

dizzying

swirl in at the

root of my gut.

I am alone

in a universe

strewn with

billions of galaxies

sprayed like

like glowing

frogs eggs across

a black abyss.

Here I am

the tadpole

who made it

through the

black pond.

to

crow

at the sunrise.

Here I am.

Barry Lane

Write about a Time You Were Down and Out

Pocatello

It was the summer

of my nineteenth year

and I lay in the ditch

by the side of

Interstate 90

as semis

whoooshed by above me.

I opened

my last can of

cream style corn

with a jackknife.

and wondered

whether sleep

would come

even here

so far

away

from my

childhood bed.

About that time

I fell asleep

and dream racoons showed up,

to pick at my

dusty backpack

and comb their

nubby black fingers through

my uncombed hair.

Taunting me

for their enjoyment,

When I awoke

the sun was a

a blazing ball of fire

rising over a field

of melons.

And as I collected

my things and

climbed out of the

ditch and up to

the highway

I felt a quiet

sense of triumph.

The Newest days

are always preceded

by the darkest nights.

Barry Lane