Things are Really Great Here

We came in this world together Legs wrapped around each other My cheek against my sister's We were born like tangled vine We lived along the river Where the black clouds never lingered The sunlight spread like honey Through my sister's tiny hands But

From the dusty mesa Her looming shadow grows Hidden in the poison creosote In the hushing dusk Under a swollen silver moon I came walking with the wind To watch the cactus bloom She twines her spines up slowly Towards the boiling sun And when I touch

The giant of Illinois Died from a blister on his toe After walking all day through the first winter snow Throwing bits of stale bread To the last speckled doves He never even felt his shoes filled with blood Delirious with pain, his bedroom walls beg