⚘
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.