desert not dessert
des-ert : n.1. barren area of land with little or no precipitation often with hostile conditions for plant and animal life
I moved to Arizona as a small child. I exchanged the grassy yard, taller than me snow drifts and 241 shades of Ohio gray sky for a granite lawn, faster than me tumbleweed and 241 shades of brown. I used to lay on my back in the driveway and stare up at the thick blue sky as it stretched up from the warm ground I could feel beneath me. The lone skinny cloud in the sea of blue would slowly drift out of my plane of vision. I was lost in the bald sky. Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to live near and far for reasons of varied consequence: school, teaching, residencies, novelty. The desert has become my north star and I always return home.
My story is not singular rather it is a shared love story that I have heard fall from the lips of my neighbors and strangers alike...
an epic romance
with an unfathomable desire to make this arid place home.
