Arizona

I want to be whisked away to Arizona 
and kissed in the depression of the Earth.
Surrounded by rocks that have heard the moans of creatures like me, 
long necked 
and ferocious 
slow-stepping, and extraordinary. 
  
Standing ankle-deep in oceans of sand 
Under sun that refuses to give up 
Sharing heat with someone that loves me, 
that sees me as a beginning and the now, 
their future and their lover from a past life 
  
I want to love in Arizona. 
  
I want my palms and shoulders and the back of my neck 
bathed in sunlight and lips 
To fall asleep in a city of cacti  
and kept awake by all the life that romps in the night
  
I want to walk into the chilly desert draped under your arm, 
blanketed by all of you and all of the stars 
that seem more like ancestors,
winking and beaming down at us,
granting me the wish that has lived in my skeleton since my conception: 
to be loved unconditionally 
a freedom they’ve prayed over me endlessly. 
  
I want the stars and the moon 
and the lizards and the dirt 
and the fingers and their touch 
and the promise of forever, 
  
in Arizona. 

By Kaitlyn McNab