Desert Shadow

Life moves
in the desert
and life
casts a shadow.

The scorpion
scurries
and the snake
slithers.

Chihuahuan
drinks Mormon tea
whole
and eats prickly pears.

Navajoan
lets her sagebrush
blow
and playas are there.

Mojave
lets her cats claws
show
underneath the Joshua-tree.

Sonoran
is the hottest
though
and Honey Mesquite grows.

Fire in the desert
and the sand melts
as glass forms
from the bomb.

The desert is alive
at the oasis
and the creatures
are in continual stasis.

Hot winds blow
across the dunes
and life is a shadow
in the desert.