Succession

I have been thinking of most depictions of the desert in film and video and what seems to connect most visions...wondering why hourglasses and sand seem to inextricably linked to such landscapes.

It is true that remnants of the past remain here more than in other places. During my first excursion into the desert hills around seven years ago when I arrived and everything was new, I found several bleached animal skeletons, an old corral dating back to the 1800's, and an an old adobe ruin.

When I wandered into the town from the desert, they all looked at me oddly. And they still do:

Desert Noir

The past layered like an onion:
once you pull back skin a rawness revealed
crumbling black light on the desert floor
bones & azure skies seem to drift
towns don't care for mythologies.

The same rock, soil and ash
shifted into hills and into earthen houses

the shadows of mountains in the distance stir
flowing like quicksand, the clouds

You knew it was time.