as unbroken sunshine

this desert was once

a mighty ocean

shells whisper tales

of this desert's past

saline bed & iodine of kelp

this ocean once warmed
many a heart

this desert is annexed

to the leeward slope

the rain shadow region

the prodigal son

whilst the windward laps

the unbearable thickness of
sweetly tumescent, dripping clouds

this desert tells fables

in its dunes & bedrock

in its regs & ergs

in its naked soil

in its ventifacts

in its prickly thorns

in the sum of coyote & canyon

is it salt that gives food its taste?

is it flour that feeds a man's soul?

is it flames that ruffle his youthful heart?

is it water that keeps his bones supple?

is it the stars that shape the lines of his hand?

is it death that makes him want to live?

in deserts,

the leaves are spines

& spines are broken

in deserts,

the soil is sand

that was once an ocean

in deserts,

it seldom rains

but even that is a storm

in deserts

there is sun

as in unbroken sunshine

in deserts

there is heat

as in backbreaking heat

in deserts

even sages go mad

their spines broken by the vacuum

only a man who

is sucked dry

can value the wetness of water

40 days in a graveyard

40 days in a cell

40 days with your mother-in-law

40 days in hell

but 10 days in the desert

makes a man as naked

as the mushroom rocks

carved by billowing breeze

they say love makes the world go round

but in deserts, the wind shapes destiny.