I am looking at maps, constellations and planets
plotting routes to drive, to hike this country
seems I would stagnate and die
were I to stay put all of the time
my eyes scale topographies
like braille, my fingers feel
the green of flowering fields
the rain running down hills
always I dream of skies
I envy birds flying over
in cities, I don't seem to settle
pace this floor, a caged animal
daydream of wilderness walks,
spending nights watching stars fall
the heavenly peace of it all.

I cannot lose the images, though I try
still the memories of Dragoon imbue my mind
evenings beneath agave moons, full bloomed
the silhouetted century plant flowers
the day's last light, the final sun shadows
our night hikes under Venus skies
signaled the fall, the bright blinking call
of night sweeping stars, and too the flashing,
the sparkling gold of our two souls
unearthed amid the giant stones
ancient, sacred through the ages
in the moments of truth
when love finds a home.

On days like this
cool, with little winds
desert birds forage for sticks
they build nests perched in cactus
some build green in palo verde trees
always I think of baby birds in spring
hatchlings, the fledglings that fly
I travel far beyond the noise of towns
watch the movement of cooling clouds
the roundness of rain upon the ground
the grey banked scurrilous skies
of hurried birds, their silhouettes before a storm
daisies that close, cold amid the stones
beneath where snakes and lizards go
slither and crawl in this landscape of saguaros
and I, ever tethered can only dream to fly.

love me
elemental as
wind, water, fire
wild in billowing fields
drenched watery wet in sweat
of all other things make me forget
igniting dreams of lightening steam
all the ordinary world evaporating

In the morning red hibiscus flowers
yesterday's petals have fallen to the ground
a hummingbird briefly hovers
in flashes, green iridescent feathered
soon the silver sun comes from behind clouds
reflections, in spectrum colors
of painted sky, brush strokes
in watercolors of dawn
the heart, a lotus flower
center of the soul
that opens.

Ocean swimming, buoyant blue
salt encrusted hair of jewels
seaweed shimmering, waves entangling
savoring, deep her belly breath of sea
with a mermaid tail, to flash in hues of green
wearing rings and pearls, she swirls in a sea of stars
radiantly, far below the moon.