29.30 AZ

old dirt
red clay
inhospitable
arrid
barren

cave dwellers
and geology
own this more
than pale men

irony
the way this landscape
was purchased
(poached, like ancient seguaro)
from the very same hands
it now expels

welcome to hell on earth
infernal hundreds plus degrees
mirage
is defined here
brutal earth
the dry tongue of miles
parched as bone

rumor has it people drown
with what begins as a trickle
becoming liquid again
in sudden flood
but the fire of the sun
licks the rock here

this is a scorched earth
with its own policies
the man made razor wires
fences spooled braces
(unlike anything along
our creamier neighbors to the north)
no match for the pincushions
the needles of cactus
this is Hades, ready made

whatever pissing contest
plays out here
will eventually succumb to lava
mama earth
will drink it in
not even a droplet
on the fingernail of her time