Like Simile As Metaphor

There was one other time in my life when drugs, well mostly one drug, ruled my life. That was the acid era. You'd smoke a joint to raise your head, but pot was just the amplifier. LSD changed my life, nearly ended any hope of sanity and then made me get sane.

Acid was cheap, a whole night's entertainment for 2 bucks. It made everything beautiful, wonderous, hilarious and genius. Among the artsy crowd, it brought out fresh insights and different views that inspired us. I made some remarkable art and wrote poems and songs during that time. Played music with people. Acid was a requirement for any big concert and for most music events. When I was tripping I was hyper-alive, every sense magnified, including humor.

The day after tripping a lot (I took one hit a day, but to trip I took at least 3; my tolerance was high after 2 years) I'd look at what I'd made and examine the experience. It was all so good, life. Tripping made the mundane parts of life- work, sleep, food, where you lived- less important and very funny. Somehow it made my college work better. I actually understood Probability & Stats by tripping and took the final without book or calculator without a problem. And there was a lot of speed in blotter in the late 70s. Sometimes the speed would keep you up for 2 days and you'd have to find valium to bring you down. But it was all good.

One time I asked my dealer why he didn't trip anymore and he said "too many bad trips". I'd never had a bad trip. But I did, on 5 drops of liquid on a sugar cube. And that was the end of acid for me. I lived in the middle of nowhere for 2 years and thought a lot. Got my shit together.

I've been working on this post because I know there's something key common to what happened then and what's just happened. But I can't find it. It's a needle in a LES squat.