gifted by a generous driver, briefest of meetings, wonderful final bm sendoff.

A few years ago (after 8 years at BM or so), I had to leave BM a tad earlier than planned because word of a storm was rolling in and I had an unmoveable date soon back in AZ. A friend connected me to a giant RV that could take me back to to SF, filled with acquaintances. The RV had a short delay and a number of us ran out to watch the Temple Burn with the understanding that we’d be back by a definite departure time. The Temple Burn is the center of my bm week and I was grateful, once again, for the majesty and somber awe and grace with which it burned, with which we all took in the fire that consumed and transformed our communal loving memorial — grateful for the majesty and beauty of this destructive pyre. After it had burned, I saw my timing was tight and I approached a random pickup truck and asked if they were heading back to center camp. “Sure hop in,” they said to this random dusty burner. I sat in the back and chatted with a fellow who was an old-time DPW guy. We spoke of the DPW folks’ reputation for being assholes and he said they’d gotten sweeter in recent years. The pickup driver kindly went out of his way to deliver me directly to the RV and as I got out, I asked the driver, “Oh what’s your name?” “Larry,” he said. ” ‘Larry’, Larry?” I asked. He laughed “yes.” I told him that I had been down a few beaches in the late eighties at Star Hawk’s solstice bonfire at Ocean Beach. He knew of us and was kind of excited and quite cheery to me to have shared that early connection. Lots of warmth and sense of kinship. I thanked them all, hopped out of the truck, and laughed to myself. I was pretty sure this was to be my last burn (for a number of reasons) and I was very happy to have this sendoff.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *