In the sun of the desert sky
In the dirt that blows in my eye
I searched my life for you

In the palms of my father’s hands
In the borders that police no man’s land
I searched the lines for you

In the mean and cold places, wrinkled faces, brutal races
at the bases of mesas and in cases where embraces replace spaces
I searched what’s right for you

In the ash where embers once glowed
In the paths that my sisters sowed
In the breeze of my mind’s delight
In the warmth of my lovers light
In the bones of the beasts I eat
flesh of this craft, into submission beat
I worked this night for you

No-one mentions Athel trees
Or the hamburger sand there
Blown in sheets
Jerusalem ought to choke rock sales
Voodoo (and concerned with black males)

Save the bullheads from the plot
Pocketed bullets from the sailor’s lot
Some burned pigs, wandering, lost there
Tooth marked (and concerned with welfare)

Mark the boundary with weeds
Buried treasure, in walls, unseen
But with destruction, uncovered
Voodoo (our time there discovered)

No-one mentions Athel trees
And the fact that they don’t have
any leaves
Why do I want to go back there?
Voodoo (and concerned with what’s bare)

Pare thin sentence from wry thought
Filter sand from these dry locks
Nestled tightly in his breath
Lies (the truth, adjacent depth)

Extracted vassal of the Rock
Shorn in lands without a flock
Consumed and sculpted by child’s care
Voodoo (and concerned with black hair)

For Melissa

Still, like the drifting desert sand Mojave knew.
Dull, as the rusting cars there stand, Mojave blued.
Eyes, wide open, tears run.
Wild!
Try. Try. Try. She’s never coming home.

What was I thinking when you were sinking?
(Where was my head? Where were my hands? Where was my heart?)
Traded them in on pieces of tin.
(What did you do? What did you do? What did you do?)

Hold me, heaving, scold me.
Tired, torn, buck-toothed and dead
Break me (I’m tired) take me
This, the end.

Disown me — hostile zone me.
Railroad tie me to my bed.
Break me, desert, shape me.
Break me, desert rape me.
Break me, desertscape.
Mojave knew me then.

Slight, like the scent of Grandville’s ground; Mojave Jew.
Gaunt as the lizard skins we found; Mojave bruised.
Guise an omen: near spanned miles!
Try Try Try. She never got control.

What was I thinking when you were sinking?
(Where was my head? Where were my hands? Where was my heart?)
Traded them in on pieces of tin.
(And what did you do? What did you do? What did you do?)

Hold me, heaving, mold me.
Tired, torn, buck-toothed and dead
Break me (I’m so tired) take me
This, the end.

Disown me — hostile zone me.
Railroad tie me to my bed.
Break me, desert, take me.
Break me, desertscape me.
Break me, desert-raped.
Mojave new me then.