dibáá’ nishtj (I am thirst) *** Options

[mt2polar]

dibáá’ nishtj

A poem of us would begin without words
dried for decades in the desert
Each cracked rock, red bit of sand
and petrified bone were laid as they were thought
describing what they couldn't

That tiny wind polished stone there
held volumes on a breath just behind your neck
The flecks of bentonite shine a bit of your salt
sun splayed from every ocean spray across the globe
Sidewinder tracks smooth perfect curves
as you move unknowingly across my mind

There is no water

Every plant and creature holds
close the drops of life that are wholly in your being
Cactus, gnarly and spined, bow and flower
at your color's choice
The versatile and cunning coyote roam
without a desert master but their tails
curl under for your whim

Wind is the sand's whisper chords
reverberating within your chest
Night descends with a dry silent chill
holding still for life's reprieve and rejoice
It is your day's last kiss before our eyes
dream and dance

A Tiger Rattle's bite and the Bark scorpion's sting
remind the living, in a pointed fervor
that liveliness is the only deserving course
for our veins

Brittlebush jot the landscape yellow
calling me to pull them and get them out
There is the Gambil's Quail, a Black Rail
the Roadrunner, and Gilded Flicker
grounded or flying
they make the desert thrive
with beauty and feather

And finally, standing firm
centuries on end, the Joshua Tree
Here, at its trunk, is a parchment
scorched and split in two
A poem is written on it.

"I am the desert, the living and worth within is you"

[Psyche]

Hello Michael,
So glad to have you posting again, especially with such a stunning, lovely poem about the desert.
I had to research a little, so looked up Gambil's Quail in Wikipedia. That gave me a better idea of the region(s). Is it Arizona? Or some other desert area in the USA?

I really like many lines of your poem, but I chose the final stanza because of its mystic quality... It also reminds me that the whole world is a unique living organism, despite its many facets.

I'll have to read your poem several times. It appears that there is a trio of entities here. The omniscient author, the living desert with all it contains, and a third person, perhaps a woman, to whom these lines are composed. They all appear to interact, IMO.

I may have got it all wrong, so I'll certainly return and meanwhile maybe you could answer some of the questions I've already made?

I don't have important crits to make, but as I see you placed *** to your work, I'll suggest a few punctuation changes, or else some ideas to tighten up the poem a little. Not too much, I'm fond of fairly wordy poems.

And finally, standing firm
centuries on end, the Joshua Tree
Here, at its trunk, is a parchment
scorched and split in two
A poem is written on it.

"I am the desert, the living and worth within is you"

Wow, that finale is striking!
Best, Syl a.k.a. Psyche