he rode deeper into the desert, his
tongue dustier than his boots.  the thirsty
noonday sun siphoned the last drops of sweat
from the back of his blazing, blistered neck.
the horse staggered.  he knew he was just dead-
weight in the saddle and there was nothing
but sand.  mounds, bluffs, ridges of pale yellow.
time passed.  passed?  but the savage sun was still.

then

she appeared on the dune in silk.  blue.  a
cornflower blue that rippled against her
body.  he closed his eyes and thought of the
rolling fields of breeze-ruffled, dotted blue
back home
he saw himself riding ahead and then
he was there.  off his horse at the foot of
the dune, and she descended.  her eyes were
the same blue as her dress and her lips, red
lips, were parted and he could see her hips
move like liquid through the silk.  swish. swish.  as
she came closer her long dark hair brushed her
shoulders.  swish. swish.  and then she was there and
she pulled him into her breast and he breathed
in and it smelled like the wildflowers
back home
and the silk felt cool and he wanted to
drink it from her body and she drew him
down onto the sand and it wasn't hot
and he began to run his cracked hands up
her thighs and she sighed and he felt it on
his face like a spring gust from the green hills
back home.

then

the federales found him three feet from
the edge of the oasis.  face down, arm
outstretched over a patch of grass.  water,
like a mirror to the sky, lapping his
chafed fingertips.

no one seems to understand!
human knowledge, i just want to expand
i'm only trying to be of service
there's really no need to be that nervous
try my delicious potions
or my very, very soft lotions
and you'll be helping me on my quest
to benefit all! truly it's for the best!
lie there quiet now, it won't hurt a bit
you're helping humanity
so i'm sure you're ok with it!

i met a girl in the grocery store parking lot
i could tell she liked me an awful lot
i felt like a real winner
when she invited me for dinner
but now my toes are boiling in her ***

chili cheese dogs, root beer at the drive-in
spot. the place with the orange roof. then we
cruise the quiet downtown as the sun drops
low and gleams from behind the buildings. it
winks through the trees as we roll into the
country.  windows down, midwest summer air
pouring in as we pass under a gray
cloud.  i feel a cool prickle on my arm.
a song on the radio drifts away.
whipping twilight wind.  rain falls like glitter
through the waning gold on the horizon.

a desert wind blows over waves of sand,
carving new shapes and shadows.  and you don't
look at me with the same eyes anymore.

a brand new ceiling fan was installed in
my bedroom with an apartment upgrade
and as its hum whispers me to sleep, i
wonder if my dreams drift up and get pushed
around the room and out the slightly cracked
window and carried by the summer night
breeze into another open window,
only to melt inside the sleeping brain
of someone else, filling it with faces
and places otherwise unknown to them.
and then i wondered if my fan pulls dreams
in the cracked window, so i pushed it closed.

a sip of red wine
at the start of the evening
pastels streak the sky