road winding inward
highway patchy sand-spattered macadam
last vestige of civilization,
sense of pervading stillness mutes the din of the land like a cloak,
boundless high desert visions unfurling
lifeforms loom multisciously,
solitary or entwined
mysterious,
eternal, graphic,
vibrant
lizards scurry into the infinitude of cacti
nested inside eroded red dirt ridges,
immortal cliffs
furred rims of receding mountains
fade sfumato with the Delphic distance,
the rocky spired landscape verging northward
then looming somewhere then everywhere,
a ragtag thorny cluster of gargantuan Saguaros
armed staunch sentries on guard
vigilant and mindful with arms upraised,
reticent and aloof,
signalers to the distant peaks in their silent language:
while cactus flowers bee buzz,
while reptiles race colliding about at lightning speed,
while fervent desert winds signal all to be here
mutually, within this boundless bold dominion
Tucson, 2023