Death Valley of the dolls.

Death Valley of the dolls.

The cactus stands

Boldly growing

Brazen as a brass-faced lie

Before its shadow

Has a chance to die

In the noon day sun

Pumped up

Full of water

Thirst slaked

For this millennium

Would it were so

For me

Dry lips tell no tales

Sweat caked

Bare-faced

Burned cheeks

Suffused with idealistic

Fervour

As the truth of heat stroke dawns

With dizzying abstraction

Vertigo is not a pleasant way

To pass the day

Deserts are not a place

Of southern comfort

Humans are so reliant

On an intervention

Of someone else’s mother

For invention

When harsh truths

Should be heard

Instead of building

Sand castles

Dreamers need to

Heed the weather warnings

Of a heatwave

Forget the song

And connotations

Of a beach party

Pretty in pink

Is only true for a moment

Skin is quick to burn

In the front seat of a car

With the roof down

There is no romance

In eating sand for breakfast

Or running out of fuel

On a deserted road

Down in the deep

Of Badwater Basin

In the summertime

Although

On second thoughts

Make that anytime