The Desert Bares My Weakness
for Pam(s)
again, you think about him.
bloomed cactus sit at your feet and listen
to words you inscribe—
creation swirls within creation of colored scrawled caverns
drawn, a language no one knows—
no water, plant, or animal
not even sky renders
enough markings remind you,
the visitor, inside bighan,
inside her home
forget what you have seen—
forget the cavern of colors
sifted through the expanse of hand
as sand divides each limb
and wind brushes the swirls
pressed against tipped fingers
gigantic air becomes you
harsh desert blooms life thought dead
igneous rock coils water under
notice unwashed footprints
jóhaani’éí peeks through clouds
jóhaani’éí, watch those over
kó
like fire, everything burns guilt—guilt
sits under sun-drawn sky
traced landscapes of yesteryear’s formation
untouched voice desires you
monstrous mountains live inside those
spoken environmental truths
not one enters mouth
no need for past secrets
of blessings
you bathed cedar
sauntered ceremoniously through words
of whispered winds
emerged in healing
of spoken mountains
—crowned clouds upon head
of home then becomes sky
people don’t know
quiet
da’an speaks in silence
reverberation touches throat
dry valleys untouched by wetness,
silhouettes sketch lined-maps you border
time does not wait for you—
time sits at home watching HDTV
reciting memories during commercials—
uneven rocks swivel beneath you
visuals unwind vocal chords you string
wind sways words upside down
xeriscape unearths creativity you seek
your desert land is nothing.
zero, a word you learned in boarding school—
adín.
Byron F. Aspaas. Raised within the four sacred mountains of Dinétah. Aspaas’s first published work was included in Yellow Medicine Review and since then his writing has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. Byron’s writing revisits the destruction of sacred land and engages his readers in a dialogue about preserving Diné culture and land. He uses imagery and persona to present explorations of language, landscape, and identity. He is faculty at San Juan College’s English Department and Western Colorado University’s Graduate Program in Creative Writing.
Read “The Beginning,” a Letter to America proem by Byron F. Aspaas also published in Terrain.org.
Header photo by RENE RAUSCHENBERGER, courtesy Pixabay.
