PATRIOTS

my favorite 4th of July
was when me and my
high school buddies went
to go camp up on the
Kern River out of
Bakersfield and right
before you hit those
boulders and the "how
many have died this
year in the rapids" sign
you'd pass that big
arche on the left that said
HAG'S PLACE and
we shot it the finger and
hit that joint for the 18
mile or so treacherous
ride it took to get to
this beautiful creek that
ran into the river where
we set up all our stuff
and dropped some acid to
get fueled for the big
fireworks display at Lake
Isabella that night
where a couple hours and
miles later at dusk and
not quite peaking we
witnessed some local
high school football team
blow themselves up
lighting the shit off this
barge in the middle
of the lake killing half of
them and all the screams
got us out of there back
to camp where we set
up about a hundred
candles all across the
creek on all the rocks in
the water and in that
surreal light talked
about what we'd do if
we ever got drafted