Flashback

every time

i see a Stop sign

its red octogonal shape

angled edges

abrupt instruction

i remember a nightmare

i had when i was 3 or 4

about flying houses

and Tinkertoys

that came alive

the smell of

wood smoke

and i'm back in pennsylvania

in front of a fireplace

or a campfire in the pocono mountains

when someone in authority

looks over the tops of the glasses

at me

i'm in fourth grade again

standing in front of the

principal's desk

who says

'what the hell were

you thinking?'

and i shrink

when i hear

a seagull

i feel the splintery wood

of the boardwalk

beneath my feet

i feel the stickiness

of cotton candy on my face

taste the grainy

sweetness on my tongue

waves crashing

on the shore

the smell of the ocean

jellyfish washed on the sand

abandoned by the tide

when i smell candlewax

and burnt matches

i'm singing

'kum by yah'

with weeping teenagers

hugging and swaying

with the love of jesus

the beatles are singing

'revolution'

and i feel my feet tingling

from vibrating floorboards

high powered stereos

belching rock music

i smell incense

from down the hall

hear the clacking of beaded curtains

my long haired brother

walks barefoot

down the hall

and lets out his daily primal scream

it's funny

how time works

we're here right now

but a song

a smell

a sound

or the sight of lovers

holding hands

and i leave my body

enter another time

briefly visiting a moment

in the past

feeling the pain

or joy

or peace

from another lifetime

a younger me

and i remember

i am more

than i appear

in this moment

i am all of it

i am a whole world

of experience