Tucson in the Future
In the time it takes to fly across
the desert again, geodes split
themselves to opalescence, saguaros
somersault slowly down rock faces,
and my family speaks exclusively to Siri.
They ask her is it hot? & Siri says it’s hot.
In Arizona the ants fire wild
up my legs as I hike with my aunt
who points to the wash where
she’s watched rattlesnakes writhe
together, fuck and undress together—
their skins sloughing off, she asks me
how many people have seen something like that?
She asks Siri, how many people have seen?
Kayla Rae Candrilli
Kayla Rae Candrilli is an MFA candidate at the University of Alabama, and an associate editor for NANO Fiction and the Black Warrior Review. Candrilli was awarded first place in Vela Magazine’s non-fiction contest, and is published or forthcoming in Rattle, The Chattahoochee Review, Vinyl, CutBank, The Boiler, and others. You can read more of their work here.