‍

consider the abundant sagebrush:  
yesterday’s refugees        deep 
snow in disturbed grassland
[abandoned dryland-farms]
‍

          what comes in
when space is made?
‍

west of Arizona’s Snowflake
and Sunflower    all the way down
to the border    transmission towers
     sentries for the wired world
hide in folds of pine-studded hills
peer out from fog [steam
from the kettle of the canyon]
burnt-out echoes of saguaro
            charred spines

across the cracked flat
to the east wind turbines: asylum
seekers in this age we are creating
they rise above
revolve their paddles in greeting

‍

################################[theborder]#############################################

and we are among
wayside shrines and pilgrims: date palms [migrated to this new/old world by Jesuit burros’
scatological offerings]       sway in along the waterways

           the desert across the road el ocotillo waves slender arms
to return the palms’ salutation      los cirios dither and stretch       los cardónes   [each one crowned
with a vulture]      their ground