Always
There’s no Palm Springs in the pretty past,
and in the future, we’ll forget all the phantom sands
whose dervishes delayed our dogged selves
from mojitos in the mid-evening majesty of Bart’s
hyaline pool in the high heat
of those sands of time, in the sands of sour
noon, nonesuch, a nagging ache
for lounge lizards and lovers of the moon.
About the Author: Cal Freeman (he/him) is the author of the books Fight Songs and Poolside at the Dearborn Inn. His chapbook, Yelping the Tegmine, has just been released. His writing can be found in many publications, including Image, The Glacier, Potomac Review, Panoply, and North American Review. His next book, The Weather of Our Names, is due out this year from Cornerstone Press.
Image Credit: Carol M. Higsmith: “The pool at the colorful Saguaro Hotel in Palm Springs, California” (2013) Public domain image courtesy of The Library of Congress
As It Ought To Be 