(d)Evolution

starry-eyed surprise

I. drought

Triple digit summers, fires, barren winters, the heat island expanding, ready to burst. dry lakes, receding water rings of Lake Mead, Lake Powell, the Colorado River, like a grimy ring in a bachelor’s bathtub.

In the desert everything is amplified: sun’s harsh glare, shimmering heat, crisp vegetation, shrill politics, smoky air, concrete opinions.

II. demise

I never knew

a cactus arm, when sliced

resembled a star

or that something so enduring

could ever die

illustration by my grandfather, Edward Shenton

III. parched

all these people and

the desert—slowly dying

a crumbling shell

IV. respite—

and still: the glittering freedom of a star-filled desert sky