Arid Land Thermophilia
love for the desert heat / a cautionary affair
I don’t feel overjoyed or conceited
to hear people bitch about heat
in a hot place, in late May, amid
what’s befalling the Earth– It’s two
degrees more– think less clothing,
more rubbing of UV protection, but
I’m stuck in a freezer, wearing a down
jacket in June, desiring the burn on
my face, arms, and back, a fiery love bite
on my nape, that ectotherm craving
that sensual boil that gets cramped in July
when the awful AC, the culprit that causes
greenhouse gases, makes me disdain my
thermophilic bent, knowing the price
to the thermotolerant: the Chuckwalla
Fringe-toad lizards, tortoise, roadrunners
hawks, bighorn, coyotes, and xerophytes
could all vanish in August’s peak hour behind
sweltering sand and stone. One degree more
could be that upheaval that stops me from
elating on the hot wall on my skin, heat
emanating from the floors, an endless heat sink
I don’t hate the amorous stink of my Staphylococcus
hominis, thriving in my armpits
Lizbeth Bárcena
Lizbeth Bárcena is a writer and naturalist, dedicated to bringing awareness of the wonders and fragility of nature through writing. She’s currently pursuing an MFA in Nature Writing at Western Colorado University. A Semi-Finalist for the 2024 North American Review Terry Tempest Williams Creative Nonfiction Contest and recipient of the Mari Sandoz Emerging Writer Scholarship, her work was recently published in the El Portal Literary Journal Spring 2025.
