Long Way From Alice Springs

The red earth
a baked blood
glowing behind her

her hands
shield eyes
saluting the sun
as it drops
flaming

in moments
hemispheric
kissing the rock
then rousing
the cliffs of Dover
and home
i suggest

maybe
she shrugs
nonchalant

later
under swaggered stars
the land buzzes
with crawling bugs
of outback night
a demented radio
scratching skin
two hundred miles
from Alice Springs
deafening us
to touch
for the first time

in a long time