Arizona

⚘

Cacti prick through

Fear clouding second grade eagerness

Heat in the

Empty terrain

 

⚘

On a horse,

I might gallop

To remember all that

Once known

A hazy state

And white minivans

Sheltered in jackets of bugs

Buckled in

With rattlesnakes

I yell at my

Father

That

He isn’t being

Safe.

 

⚘

As a child

I wore bangs

Caution on my face

Clouds don’t offer cover

For lobstered

Sunburns.

 

⚘

A helicopter rides above canyons

Really train tracks

That hid behind

Prison bars

Hoping fool’s gold isn’t quite so.

 

⚘

Whole family here

With cacti infused sand

In the back

Sleeping on air mattresses

In the back

That I share on the stormy nights

With my brother.

Rain clatters

But does not fall

 

⚘

On a horse,

I trot

In the empty promise

I am older

Legs hold close

Cacti might prick

In needles

Dismantling blood and vacation

I yell out

To Father

In the tide of the canyon’s barriers.

For photo’s sake

I may be cautious in his thunder.

Too cautious

I may be

On this flight

 

⚘

A Christmas spent

In hazy summer

Being all

That I

remember.