Art of Myth ~ Gallery ~ Earth

Earth

POEMS OF THE

DESERT

by Rachel

LAS VEGAS

Under neon lights,

Plastic boulders

Fake trees gaze.

Painted women walk past.

Purses vacant.

Men flash gold-plated rings

that blink the eyes.

"Oh, one day we will

win the jackpot.

We'll have it all."

Says a small boy

To scrawny mama

As one armed boxes

clang out money

behind smoggy isles.

When seventy

came upon him

he still --

hangs over

waits for

machines to feed him.

MECCA

Rectangle stones of black glass thrust out of the sands

Dark wind pushes trees.

Crowds gather in their promise,

Hiding from glowing heat.

Blankets of wind cover the electric bright hotels.

Neon letters buzz, glow, and poke their heads through

Out to the sky.

SAN BERNARDINO

The sun fell down behind

Blue skies hugging naked

Land where sand belittles

Red leather-skin frog

Who scamper

behind

A branded yucca

Curved in a bloated sun.

For the long standing residents,

Shackled to the dirt,

Dead beneath their feet,

Their visions of ghosts grew with age.

And mad scientists brought monsters

on a daily basis.

SAN MIGUEL

No one noticed tourists who

Quietly fell through San Miguel,

Mexico.

Cobblestones still crawl along streets.

Occasionally, a paint-worn pickup

bumbled over them.

Petit women of shiny black hair

Threw clothes bundles

Into weary river.

Stone store fronts squatted under dark sun.

Thick, matty hair dogs wondered through empty alleys

Hiding from their shadows.

No one noticed

Death

Sweeping the earth.