Heat becomes a god faster than
anything else – agave creeps up, bursting
like a yolk cradled under the tongue.
Walk as far as you can and get nowhere.
Scales thrash; sand unwinds lazily.
Stars split at their seams — we forget ourselves.
Pale flesh, burn brighter.
Glass bottles melt into our palms– you become something else in this sun.
Life shrinks to your shadow.
Something beats underneath your feet.
The body becomes unbearable.
Entrails hang from the hawk’s beak.
Darkness grows absolute: coyotes shriek in excitement.
Oh, you are starving.
Come closer,
just a bit more.