the dry spell

there are dry spells.
times when it won't rain.
no cloud in the sky.
when the words won't come.
when every lover has
said no, not this again,
we're done. there are long stretches
of empty cupboards, empty bottles,
empty hearts. periods of silence
as if the world had gone
dumb. you've been around
this desert, you and moses,
you and the coyote,
you and other lost souls,
the jack rabbits finding any shadow
to wait it out,
to breathe heavily in,
the tumbleweeds blowing about.