phoenix offers nowhere to hide (repost from myspace)

october 24, 2006:

Nowhere else have I felt so much that, rather than inhabiting my lush green planet, that I am clinging to a planet's inhospitable crust. I am reminded constantly of ants marching across an angry ball. Even the palms, planted and trained to be grandiose, seem to be holding their green treasure achingly high above the dry yellow sand from which they sprung.



The sunsets are spectacular. The neon hues suggest that the heat of the day reached its apex and the sky burst into flame. A full spectrum rainbow results, stretching from the burning red mountains to the velvet blanket of night. For the darkness is a tangible cloak, velvet-soft and thick. The streetlights, rather than create comforting halos of light getting fainter gradually as they travel towards the stars, are trying, straining to be props holding up the heavily draped and completely present blanket of the sky.


The mountains seem deceptively close, like I could climb them at any point. Like I could abandon traffic, pull over, and strike out alone across the desert. Climb easily to the acme and admire the flat basin that is Phoenix. Just stand and look, with my barefeet gripping the dry rock, holding my earth, and become for a moment part of what I survey. Dry and bright and solid.