Long Range Forecast

I am feeling a sense of whiplash. From 90+ degree heat and blossoming orange trees in Phoenix to freezing temps and chevrons of snow, covering a still frozen lake up north. All within a matter of 36 hours.

This week the desert Southwest continues to occupy my mind even though I just returned from spending three days in northern Wisconsin. As disparate as the two regions are, they share something in common: rising temperatures.



Long Range Forecast


Up north the old duffer talks
with a mouth gritty from hard times.
Whiskey rolls his tongue
and resurrects visions
of topsoil blowing away,
one planting season to the next.

In the Southwest whirling dervish
sandstorms swirl across the desert,
smother cities, stall traffic,
no longer make the nightly news.
The taste of the Sonora
now coating Margarita Fridays.

Records for warmth
topple across the seasons, the country,
and those with a nearsighted frame
of reference scoff at alternative energies,
press for pipelines through farm fields,
aquifers, and tribal lands.



Marilyn Aschoff Mellor