Love Letter to the High Desert

Miles below

where 10 and 20 meet

There’s a place

where the sky 

is under you

and the ground 

you can’t see

Where strangers dance

together until they

end up lovers

Where the painted colors

blend into each other

The storm on the horizon

trembles through the night

the aliens dance in the mountains

and we watch their lights 

East to Alpine then to Marathon

There’s no reason to leave 

But some only pass through 

Leaving the red porch lights 

Glowing all on their own

In this town 

Georgia O’Keefe 

painted me - a hazy blue

a mountain green

a red pen hanging

from the clouds

Writing words to be 

sung out loud

I sit here with my own

listening to public radio

Asking “babe what’s that song?”

hoping for you to ramble on

Cowboy boots and dirty hair.

The heat on my skin,

the sun and it’s stare.

I’ve missed you.

I’ve missed this High Desert Air.

Move closer to me,

we can be together 

in this heat.

I’m not gasping for breath

I’m breathing you in

I’m rolling like the hills

I’m moving and I’m still

We’re hanging on

heat waves —

We’re riding the 

thunder and the rain.

I’m a tumbleweed

blowing in the wind

finding my way ‘round 

a rancher’s fence.

I’m dressed in pink linen,

gauze and silk.

I want to keep this

place lonely.

I want the world

to stay at its tilt.

I want to sit here together 

and watch the world melt.

I want to sit here together 

until there’s nothing left.