GAZING INTO HELL

GAZING INTO HELL
I was lying on a friend’s couch one evening
tripping on mushrooms
not tripping too hard
or too deep
kinda just lying there
waiting for the whole thing to be over
because I’d been eating those mushrooms
on and off
for nearly twenty – four hours
my girlfriend
at the time
she was tripping, too
but it was her first time
she was in the other room
sitting on a chair
staring down at the floor
after nearly an hour passed
I turned to her
and saw this possessed expression
slapped there on her face
“hey,” I said. “you all right?”
she didn’t respond immediately
and when she did,
she said, “I’m staring right down into hell.”
I jumped off the couch
and rushed towards her
put my arms around her
and said, “no, no. Look away,
you don’t want to be looking down into hell.”
she kept her eyes fixed on the floor
for another minute
while I said, “hey, look at me.
Look here. Don’t keep staring down there
into hell. That’s no good.”
when she finally tore her gaze away
she turned to me and smiled
and said, “no, I like it.”