saturdays they come to shoot their guns

the desert-scattered blasting spooks the dog

she's right - they can't see us, and they're careless

infinite space - spent bullets in the sand

Chunk of cholla, broken phoneme,

disjoint desert palette tooth -

sun-desiccate, wind-isolate trailspoke:

don't poke! I'm listening - take to root.

Desert-chilled, still half-asleep,

pee seeping slowly toward a shoe,

a frost of thought begins to creep -

we give for love our simple due.

The self's not real (it cannot stand),

yet life emerges unallowed.

The trickle filters through the sand,

the sunrise blurred by fertile cloud.

walking with opi between Sonoran rains

clear drops hang from palo verde twigs

bark bright green in the flat cloudlight

after the rain the airplanes return

can anyone stop the encroachment of homes?

wishing for Ginsberg's queer poet's shoulder

but that city-hermit was desperate for news

ants haphazard under rumbling skies

each spine whooshes on every saguaro

a black squall cracks out over the ridge

opi come back! - we'll be safe in the car

checking the radar on weather dot com

Cold Mountain brushed words onto rocks

quiet again, just a burst of soft hail

then a tick-ticking message comes through

harvi is limping, has a lump on her leg

if opi could know, she'd be very concerned

Weed Trees

I plod the path outside my vacant study,

clutch a hatchet's handle, and I curse.

Shrouded, shady, spreading, scruff- and scrubby

weed trees: Cut down, they come back worse.

Perhaps I planted goji (can't remember),

but what's up, chickens? Please explain your perch!

And so, today we've learned that useless timber

frolics 'til it fills the universe.

by Du Fu

Afternoon sunshine, burnished by ridge rocks,

glows on creosotes proud with recent rain.

A red jacket wavers by the barbwire fence:

ocotillo flowers floating on an outstretched branch.

Sonoran fruitflies murmur like distant voices;

hilltop saguaros cast creeping shadows.

Writing rushed by the sudden chill of darkness -

what's a word for both friend and fear?