Mojave~by Paul F. Lenzi

 

 

Mojave

 

rain shadow
basin and range
dryly edged
by the joshua
sunken dead
valley aflame
with conquistador
ghosts miners
burned by
their fevers
rude settlements
brief in their
life left to ruin
abandoned amid
yellow creosote
tendrils of cholla
forbidding globes
barrel-barbed
stab at the heat
for the least
trace of moisture
this climate
extreme with
geography scorched
sparse and hostile
yet somehow
possessed of a
terrible beauty that
captivates spirits
who worship a
searing adventure