the desert is no place to forget

1

the desert is no place to forget,
memories bleach in the sun
and the jet blue sky only laughs.
A fervored wind
born of rocks
bears dirt devils.
Thunderheads rise up like gods
but they are only empty promises
to even emptier arroyos.


2

alcohol keeps the past lubricated
so it slides off my back,
a past lost among photographs of clouds
a past locked into boxes
but never put away
a past trapped on barbed wire
like so many tumble weeds


3

memories are dead bones bleaching
ever more brilliantly
under a relentless sky.
nothing ever goes away