Long Saguaro Poems

........Cactus
....Water Towers
Isolated desolates
Wrapped in spikes
Fluted aqua Greys
Or in military green
Reaching the skies
The desolate cacti 
The desert fingers 
Withholding blaze..
Desicating breeze..........
.Blistering freeze..................
Where not a blade....................
Nothin' germinate......................
Them root in dust.....................
Wasteland, gravel.....................
The fluted barrels......................
They shrink in dry......................
Bellow up...

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III. Ecological Awareness 

In this fragile eggshell
I will call life
for security's a mirage
I chase.
Existence is a gamble I take
a wild and
desperate gamble.
Not a problem –
to dissect, I say
but an eagle’s call
heard.
A life joy-filled
sorrow
I feel every...

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Black lives matter. Me too.
Not my president. Give peace a chance.
Luck runs out. I like immigrants. 
Power must be challenged by power. 

Equal and opposite reactions.
God is the answer. Love is the answer.
Walk on the...

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Jack Horner was an impish little boy, who lived on Cherry Orchard farm;
That produced varieties of fruit. For a mellowing sun, kept groves warm.

The Horners had always been a serious set-no nonsense, like spring rain;
And...

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Although flowers bloom it’s awkward to say that they are flowers
because they are not flowers, but thorns disguised as yellow pistils 
and stamens surrounded by the petals made of pieces of colorless
paper. Moreover, their fragrance...

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That old faucet leaks. 
Done so for many a year. 
I let it drip in that bowl, 
birds; chipmunks; squirrel and other 
critters come here for a drink. 

This here tree out front? 
Wife and...

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Listen for the rustling sound
of the beady-eyed belly crawlers 
deceitful serpents slithering on the ground, 
flicking a two-forked tongue and hissing.
They should be heeded as a dire warning
when tempting us as if to say, 
"Ssssssss..."...

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Rain in the Desert
 
The desert sems quietly tolerant of rain -

not really indifferent,
but resigned to brief intrusions,
allowing for a brief change of scenery
from time to time.

It has learned to live without water,
and cloaks itself...

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As I look out upon the desert floor, its beauty I espy.
A lizard awaits the sun to land for its’ sunning to apply.
A mother quail runs from her hole with 7 chicks in tow.
A comedy...

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In the shimmering heat waves under midsummer blazing sun,
for he doesn’t know the meaning of the abundance of waters 
the overflowing river,
quenched his thirst with boiling sand
while looking at the sky to find a tomorrow
in...

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When soft zephyrs are stirring arbor leaves
Words may be overheard whispered from trees.
Leaned against a trunk, my ears on alert,
This ranger heard soft words from a filbert.

A long-limbed water oak, leaning half bent,
Wryly some cross-cultural...

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The “Saga” of the Lonely Cactus 

by Miriam McCue


Introduction:
:
Characters in order of appearance:

Lonely Cactus: He is a  6 foot Saguaro cactus with two arms (kind that looks like a man from 
a distance.) ...

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I told my head a fairy tale 
to keep my heart in tact
it kept me warm for many nights
reflections when looking back
the images are hazy
the faces not as clear
the music not as sweet now
as it...

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Here I stand in this godforsaken corner
under a forgotten, sun scorched land
beneath an expansive, desert sky.

I squint in the melting sun at high noon
my proud, deeply tanned face is lined
like a road map, carved and...

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i will not blind you,
and I will not strike you with my brightness,
if you want to find me
you will always find me in the same place, on its axis
motionless,
endearing statue admiring the cute pigeons kissing,
i...

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The Grand Canyon is like the brain
with deep, unexplored fissures and tributaries, 
the main route well known by now.

I am walking, walking inside my mind, 
a grand canyon, a planet of canyons, a system
of planets....

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Over rolling hills, it tiptoes in on bobcat feet
With Lynx-like eyes, and billowing clouds of gray
And turns the hush of twilight's blood red sky
Into a witches brew, alive with piercing cries
A wind that coils in...

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hasty journey south
tombstone circle k
wade through
wanna be cowboys
and rv queens
to check out counter
and zip
outta the parking lot
onto the open road 
only to be
cut off
by a paint truck
laying lines
really?
crawling 
down the highway 
slower than a snail
no...

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Earth, builder of beauty;
her plumb line: a still point,
precious center, damp
minerals.

What I’m composing are
my words: a swathe of heat,
painted deserts, morning musk,
saguaro green.

Upon my lips, misted whispers:
a fog’s low roots, moist glaze,
dawn’s red vine, dappled...

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Our snowmen, they're not made of white.
They're tumbleweeds, rolled up tight.
No top hat upon his head,
a cowboy hat sits there instead.
His face and buttons, tree ornaments,
boots and lariat, his accoutrements. 

Saguaro cacti with lights wrapped...

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Lamp posts eyes
through cracks 
of curtains 
spying
sewing needles
through mine
uninvited
screeching tires
honking horns
sirens
plucking mind’s guitar
unstop.
Take me to the Sonoran
steal into a hut
while its inhabitant 
hunts
fall asleep in its belly
hidden
from rattling reptiles
hunting grasshoppers
coyotes  
the howling hunter mouse...

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You have permission to use these poems of mine on your terrific sight if you wish, from a series of Desert Poems I have written. Joe DiMino, author.

  
"From Desert Series" by Joe DiMino

Horses...

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A lean coyote chases a hare through
heat of desert winds. His swift doe
darts past my boots. They've managed
to escape, this time. He'll lead the chase
away another day.

I pause to watch the side-winder as he
considers a...

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in the final analysis
where the sun meets the horizon
behind the mountains looming
and saguaro with their wisdom
the breeze kicks up the dust
making an eerie funnel
and the roaring in your ears
sounds like you're in a tunnel

you didn't...

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WHO IS YOUR NEIGHBOR

Forty feet high and circumference of six feet, my neighbor is a massive Saguaro cactus 
It can be a source of sorrow or safety to wild creatures running in blackness 

Probably hundred...

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