A backpack with a story
Filled to the brim
The only passenger in an empty shuttle
On the way to Sedona, Arizona.

Making my way in hiking boots
A slight dry wind
And ray of sunshine
Lifting up through my gut
And into my throat
Through my eyes, mouth, ears, nose
Swallowing
Into the desert of contentment.

I liked the way I walked in the desert
Like I was just a being
In my brown cowboy hat
Strong, atheletic
Fierce but delicate

Old men would glance up and at me
As if they might somehow have a chance
And women would find me amusing
Though there was no amusement to be had
And watch their husbands carefully
Or smile at me like I was a Disney Princess
With tattoos
A young lone girl
Wandering alone.

I offered very few explanations
I owed zero apologies
And I ventured out into the sun.

Each morning was like a treat
Another chance to wander around and fly
I found myself weeping much the morning I left
Knowing the stress, the heartbreak, the high vibration
I was returning to
And so longer for just another day.

I would brew a *** of coffee
And eat very little at home
The bed drank me up each night
As I listened to the radio
And fought the world from afar
Or gazed up longingly at the stars.

It was hard to go
It ached to leave Arizona
A place that hugged me
And changed me forever
Now back in the city
Its as if it never happened.

But its still within me
Marked on the side of my arm
Where a man named Donny from Flagstaff
Inked into me
The significance of desert charm.