Sonoran Desert Poem
By Jake Skeets
“the ones who live in the desert,
if you knew them
you would understand everything.”
–lucille clifton
I
coming to the desert for the first time
and the night turns over a millennia before you
just say the name mountain
of mountains—make more
out of bird formations or drainage pipes
deserts build water
so drink the lightning
II
so you have been here for some time
velvet ants and paper wasps testify
sandstone bones are left long under sage
bones sculpted by sand—sand that collects its legs
in the atmospheric heat to storm and swallow
an entire city—a city that too builds its water
from fly ash—drink from that now
the cactus wren finished the lightning
III
there are those who come to the desert
because they have always been here
wind coyotes grow thorns
in the inches of light sunsets have
of mountains—do not make a mountain
reach for one and let it turn away from you
