Poems

sharp blue sky and intense heat
pierced by random bursts of wind
spiky Joshua trees
needle green
among cholla and yucca

white sacred datura
hidden against grey granulite
rocks shaped like skulls, spires, torpedoes
a chaos of boulder
and unexpected balance

desert spiny lizard
crawls on a ledge
puffs out his big blue belly
pushes up and down
a king at one foot long

at the Oasis of Forty-Nine Palms
we hear the staccato call of cactus wren
and claim our spot of shade