CLIMBER GRATITUDE: I MISS + I AM GRATEFUL 4 BY LUKE MEHALL AND JAKE BURCHMORE

Check out our latest film from Luke Mehall and Jake Burchmore. Dedicated to Mehall’s fiancee Amber DeHerrera and all the medical professionals out there.

Words by Luke Mehall

I miss my friends

I miss the desert

I miss the cracks

Getting all bruised up

In order to heal

In order to feel

I miss unplugging

Staying plugged in

Aint near as cool

I miss lazy mornings

And try hard afternoons

I miss you

I miss being sick of people

Wanting my own space

Cuz climbers are so intense

I miss the intense intensity

Of immense climbs

Initially too hard to comprehend

But at the right time

On the right climb

We can transcend

I miss pooping outside

In a bucket

I miss saying fuck it

To this broken world

That is even more broken

I miss forgetting

About all the stupidity and hate

In this broken world

I miss the feeling of renewal

That a good trip to the wild lands

Invokes and evokes

I miss spoken words

And good stories

Around a campfire

I miss being so tired

I can’t recall if I dreamed

I miss a good routine

I miss finding traces

Of an ancient people

Who somehow find a way

To tell a story to me

From a thousand years ago

In pottery and petroglyphs

I miss being in a place I would die for

I miss sleeping in a tent

And forgetting about my rent

Just for a minute

Forgetting about money

With my honey

Drinking my tea

With honey

I am grateful for my honey

She is a nurse

In an industry that was already

Too Hard to work in

13 hour days

No lunch

Saving lives

While the CEOs

Try to save dollars

Our healthcare system is broken people

It should be engineered to help people

All people

But like soldiers

The nurses soldier on

No time to waste

Never time to waste

Nurses, doctors, firefighters, medical professionals

Y’all are all heroes to me

Thank you

And thank you to the

Grocery store employees

Stocking our shelves

So we have something to eat

Thank you to our post office employees

Who are right up there with nurses

As people we take for granted

I am grateful

I miss the purity of the campfire

Knowing its better than any TV

I miss the smell

I even miss that

Wicked spring wind

Determined to blow it all to hell

But I’ll put my hope in hope

Only afraid of afraid

Ready to live for another day

I miss my friends and family

I am grateful

For my friends and family

AND YOU!

Luke Mehall is the publisher of The Climbing Zine. He looks forward to seeing everyone on the other side of this pandemic. If you need to see his face right now, you can look for his daily “Message from Mehall” on Instagram and Facebook.

Dig the words? Keep the dream alive by subscribing to The Climbing Zine. It’s $24.99 a year for three issues, and $39.99 for two years (six issues).

We have also now have a podcast, called Dirtbag State of Mind.

About us: The Climbing Zine was started in 2010 by Al Smith III and Luke Mehall. It continues to the day with the mission of representing the true essence of climbing. Our crown jewel is our printed version, but we also do the interweb thing, and Kindle.

We have also published six books: The Desert, Graduating From College Me, American Climber, The Great American Dirtbags , Climbing Out of Bed, and Squeak Goes Climbing In Yosemite National Park (a climbing children’s book) .