ARE YOU EXPERIENCED?

Beyond Lyricism
There is Psychedelia
Where the brain ignores
Customary input
In the direct production
Of sensory Experiences.

So it was
After a day grubbing out
Deerweed and Tocalote
 A hot bath had me staring
At orange vegetal shapes
Extruded from the tub’s overflow.

Later that evening a frieze
Of acanthus-like leaves
Undulated across the edge
Of a painted, Chinoiserie desk
While its central carved shell motif
Appeared to flutter in a breeze.

The Chumash used deerweed
To thatch their semi-subterranean
Sweat lodges:
Dense and Fire resilient
They may have also relished
It’s mild Psychotropic effects.

Native Landscapes are Psychoactive.
The sacred plants of the Chaparral
Contain hallucinogens
Traditionally used by Shamen
In their Vision Quests
And Initiation Ceremonies.

Those whose lives entwine
These plants
Expand their brain Chemistry
It seems, beyond the Prosaic 
To the realm
Of the Psychedelic.