The Ancient Modern
The Desert / Joshua Alan Sturgill
Who lives in the desert? July
all year
engaged in a seasonless fight.
Summer each gutted afternoon,
Winter each accosting night.
My dread of the desert begs why
go there?
Body parched, soul alight
on an Earth akin to the Moon,
cratered ravines, exposed heights.
Who goes to the desert? The pious
with fear
seek solitude in nature’s rites,
time-defiers, retreating through June.
They haven’t arrived
but might
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