out here in the desert
the ash, it grows like weeds
the baking summer sun
between the velvet leaves

here you pay a dollar
for a single pound of bread
to feed the hungry women
the newborn and newly wed

for just a drop of water
for just an ounce of rain
a quickly drying tongue
cries out the soul's refrain

we are taken all to task, you see
for the mistakes that we have made
but no one ever asks to see
the penance took in trade

if hell is other people
it is limbo I have found
resting here beneath the wind
my breath the only sound

out here in the sonora
the ash springs up like weeds
light up like the summer sun
between the burning eaves

5/29/14