tonight under frozen moon
alley cats ravish the back porch with fire
as this desert recoils
staring back at me
bloodshot wasted beers.
disguised in stuttering Mexican accent
a girl challenges me to checkers,
transparent marbles on a glass top,
losers going a few rounds
wrestling on parched ground
finally calling it a draw.
sadly, my true Madonna came
then left
my lonely bed of cactus.
should have gotten to know her better
but words again got spooned,
pungent secrets
unable to pass from hungry limbs:
why did I buy her a ticket to the city?
tonight under this frozen moon
crumbs of glass puncture my boots,
slice up my barefeet.
under these frozen moons
empty miles do not mend this vacuum inside
as I curse these ocotillo skies
wash then sink me
all the way back to Sonora.
nothing can be born
without first dying.
Bisbee
1980