Advantage: Sun

We suffered through a brief hot spell this past week, and the humidity only intensified it. To those who live in the desert Southwest unrelenting heat is a way of life. But each summer stretches a bit longer, and even dry heat can suffocate.



Advantage: Sun


Eggs over hard
fry on an Arizona tarmac, tacky
from weather too hot for pilots or planes.

Outside a Vegas casino
flamingos cluster under mist sprayers
as temps edge toward 120 degrees,
the winning number for an indoor reprieve.

To the west of Phoenix
train tracks soften, spark as railcars slip.

And to the east
a dust storm blindfolds a major highway.
Jackknifed semis and crushed cars
enmesh like a complex Erector Set.

The Sonoran desert keeps raising
the ante, holds every ace
in this high stakes game
brazenly dealt by human hands.



Marilyn Aschoff Mellor