Desert-like Portrait Of Agapito Cardenas

my father’s loneliness accumulates
by the Salton Sea

between mountains and desert
yet they do not stand a chance

my father overpowers them
in his black long sleeve shirt

the two top buttons open
he looks like a brown Cool Hand Luke

he grits his teeth on desert sand
having lost two wives

his son to the sky
loneliness surrounds him

the valley has become a funnel
and everything pours down upon his head