Desert Poems

By Sean Hotchkiss
Photograph by Justin Chung

1.

The horizon doesn’t mind
If you dream darkness for an afternoon
The horizon doesn’t care 
If you are mean
The horizon knows that rain clouds 
Can arrive with no appointment
The horizon only sees
And then is seen. 

2.

I called for God
With a voice weakened by the world
Naked on the high branch 
I tested it

The echo was wide 
Across the boulders and the sand
My own voice
Had become the heavens

3.

A spigot in the desert
Left for weeks 
Unattended
Still comes to life
Spurting
Splashing
Like a young man’s lust

4.

Wild, wild, soul stirring
Stirs the wind
The whine of the empty desert

To be alone
Is to feel full of something else

Justin Chung is a Los Angeles-based photographer. He recently published the second volume of Faculty Department, focusing on the lives, spaces, and stories of creative individuals.