Where the desert rises to meet the mountains, trains collide, metal that is sparked in the blue black dusk. Mojave river smelling of sand, mica shard, piston heat. Salt cedar that smear themselves into dry banks, gathering of grackles and mourning doves under the wind twisted mesquite. A lone bark, reeds dried thin, wild hogs in the distance as train car moans loose, hooked, metal glint.
