Dust Devils

by Clayton Beach and Michael Dylan Welch

First published in Frogpond 48:2, Spring/Summer 2025, page 79. Originally written from April to December in 2017.

blood orange

blossoms in the desert

tequila sunrise Clayton

the trucker’s downshift

in the miraging slow lane Michael

a gopher tortoise

munches on nopales

high noon Clayton

lengthening shadows . . .

another dust devil

chases a tumbleweed Michael

above the ghost town

bats begin to whirl Clayton

sickle moon—

a grassy sand dune

loses its footprints Michael