The Man, a Poem [Burning Man] | Edward Yaeger

The Man burns in a blighted desert
As people weep and cheer
The whims of MDMA
The pains of the past year
Installations light up the night
And ravers dance ’til day
Until the sun bursts like a bomb
Over the wild sojourners
Stamping in the playa clay –
Which, on occasion, the wind
Whips up and funnels
Into twisters upon hazy play
They huff and puff
Under the bluest skies
Cerulean
O’Keeffian
Stinging the eyes
From behind
Like thoughts desperate
To escape
Longing to touch the sands
That absorb and reflect
The desert sun
Adding minutes to the day
Creating a natural lighting effect
That augments the experience
Of hallucinative delay
(And of pensiveness)
(And of plaintiveness)
And of existential foray