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Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said Maricopa County has the legal authority to temporarily provide water to residents in Rio Verde Foothills. The City of Scottsdale cut off Rio Verde residents from its municipal water supply last month in an effort to conserve resources. Because Rio Verde is located in an unincorporated area, Scottsdale officials have argued that the city's not responsible for providing water service. —12News, February 15, 2023. Photo: A water hauler set up hoses to fill the tank for a home that is listed for sale in Rio Verde Foothills outside of Scottsdale, Ariz. Water prices have tripled for some residents of the unincorporated neighborhood. Credit Erin Schaff, The New York Times, January 16, 2023 |
Broken cloud and pigeons overhead;
a hummingbird inside her nest
at the neighbor’s fence; Valentine’s Day
approaching and the wind
is circling her tongue in the mountain’s ear.
Word crackles
through the neighborhood
with news of police cars at Ranch Circle
and Thirty-ninth Street with tape
as yellow as front yard desert marigolds.
Maybe it was suicide
though some say dementia
but only the moon was watching
the man go into the pond.
are busy preparing for tomorrow’s game
while the odds favor hotter
than usual days in Arizona come July
with a little comfort falling
as monsoon rains, even on the million dollar
homes in Rio Verde,
north of rush hour
traffic, master-planned for golf and scenery,
where life would be perfection
if only one could drink
the swimming pools and bathe
in Chardonnay.
It’s late afternoon
back here on Walatowa; shadows float and soften
on the rocks; the mail van’s late;
starlings mob a suet cake and lost cars
circle the cul-de-sac in endless
search for the meaning
hurrying to find the answer
before the sky runs dry.
David Chorlton grew up in Manchester, England, in a city known for its rainy days. After some years in Vienna, Austria, he came to Phoenix and adjusted to the desert. His newest book Poetry Mountain owes much to the part of the city he lives in now, with a view of a desert mountain to soften the impact of the city.