I was in a hot car On a freeway under the blazing Arizona sun. The drive had been a full day of wide-open skies And roads that flowed like running river rapids, And five minutes of a full stop. Bumper caressing bumper
Until the holdup revealed itself -- There was no accident on the road. There was an accident on the shoulder, And rubberneckers slowing down to gawk at someone’s misfortune Was what clogged the arteries of a beating Phoenix heart. I wonder when fixing your eyes on the crash Became more important than fixing your eyes on the road in front of you, When fixing our own problems was no longer enough -- We had to write laments about them too, And as I course the Arizona bloodstream Lorde croons on the radio -- We’ve been through so many hard times, I’m writing a love song for you, baby. Red Sedona sandstones sing back to me We’ve seen so many car accidents, This desert has cradled so much roadkill, All to its final breath, New death and new heartbreak each day, Pounding suns and nauseous nights you’ve endured. This oxidized iron that gives you life Is not a sign of leaking wounds, but blushing kisses. You turned the radio dial when the pop station came on. It was too upbeat for you. You think your streetside pain is more interesting than your pleasure. I no longer want to write poems about tragedy and trauma. I am tired. I want to write love poems to the land, To string words together in a way that only matters to me, To cry in the anonymity of the Wild Wild West And to proclaim my praise for this life From the mountaintops. I want to live in a world where strangers Help each other when their cars break down, Instead of a world where the specter of a spectacle Haunts me in my heart attacks. We’ve been through so many hard times, I’m writing a love song for you, baby -- Because when snow falls in Arizona The sun always returns to melt it.
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About MeHi! I'm Andrea. I really like words. Categories
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September 2023
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