Love like the High Desert and the Rain

Sitting on my altar, in the place of honor all new writing creations share, is this hand-stitched poetry chapbook (pictured right) that I made recently as part of my “Ode to the Southwest” holiday gift package (with sage, piñon incense, and some treats I’ve grown to love while living here). Here’s my favorite poem from the collection. Enjoy!

Love, my friends,
love . . .
like the high desert and the rain
crack open
with readiness and longing
like the fine clay dust
taste that sharp iron yearning of
split lips licked bloody by drought
hear the electric smack of thunder
and the far-off heartbeat, rumbling
tense your limbs in anticipation
feel the barometer dropping
gasp when the wet wind
shocks you with its arrival
pant at the rain
that is coming
so slow
droplets walking
inch by inch
across the skin of the earth’s body
release the sweet sigh of sage
that every lover knows.
-by Rivera Sun in Southwest Poems, a limited edition chapbook made as a special holiday treat.