Recently, I visited some of my family in Arizona and the weather there was quite droughty and unpleasant. These matching sun buttons in bright orange Bakelite remind me of the heat's intensity throughout the Southwest. Years ago, I wrote a poem about Arizona and titled it "Blood and Cactus" in honor of the desert's cruel scenery. Normally, this blog is not a forum for my poems, but here's Blood and Cactus in case anyone's interested in a vivid lament:
I'd rather lick a leper
Than be strapped upon a stove.
The devil ate a pepper
And their forces interwove.
Our backs are burned and belted
By the solar beam's assault.
Our blistered roads have melted,
But it's not the asphalt's fault.
This parched inferno scratches
Out the eyes of those who run.
And when the Phoenix hatches
...It's a Valley of the Sun.
-Sherbert McGee
No comments:
Post a Comment