Where is the Awe
I close my eyes
A long inhale
New Mexico, I must be 10
Running along the edge of Echo Canyon Road
One foot hitting tarmac, the other hitting sand
My best friend beside me
We’ll be friends forever, we say
Show the adults what loyalty means
What everlasting looks like
And we’ll be superheroes one day
Crayon colors streak the sky as sunlight fades
The horizon soon just an ember glow
Ladybugs hover in the crisp air,
Their shells a rainbow spectrum of color
A family of quail wanders near an adobe house
Cacti and sage guard the suburban lawns
Tumbleweeds race down the road ahead
Spindly dead things pushed by ghosts
Let’s build a fort and live there, deep in the desert
Where the teachers and dull ones can’t find us
Live off the land
Eat tarantulas and scorpions
Catch them with bows and arrows
Gather water from the Rio Grande
Hope and prey magic is real
The Lost Boys in Neverland
Fend off civilized reality
It would strangle us with its tentacles
A siren outside wakes me
Present day, everlasting long-ended
I haven’t seen you in 25 years
A feeling of longing for White Sands Missile Range
Where the desert becomes the Alps
Our sleighs ready at slope’s peak, standing side-by-side
Hoping to race down one more time
One more chance before sunset
But we never will again