The meager plants disguise themselves as rocks.
But once the three day monsoon lets up,
the whole desert turns green.
“Hurry up!” Ma Nature warns,
“Grow now! Mate now! Quick!
Before I return you to sand and dust!”
The tumble weeds, sage, and Indian tobacco
space themselves in rows…
like purposefully planted vegetables.
The meager plants know intuitively
how close they should be to a neighbor
to guarantee their ration of the blessed rains.
“Quick!” The desert rabbits, tortoises, fox, and coyotes howl.
One last brood to birth before the winter freeze…
The desert is harsh, but full of beauty and life.
The scorpion and the rattlesnake agree.
“Hurry and mate!
I will eat you and you will eat me…
if there is nothing else.”
(First published 10/21/12)
