Desert Brides

June 2017

by Lisa Fields

Dressed in creamy lace

High desert matriarchs

stand tall and proud

their sharp leaves warn the browsing deer,

“Don’t touch my skirt, you’ll cut your tongue!”

then flicker gentle shadows in the breeze

a gift of shade for smaller creatures

Morphed from phallic stalks,

floral bodices gracefully sway

Some will dip too low in their dance and break,

scattering satin petals

* * * * *

Here is a link to photos of some of these desert brides: http://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/taxa/index.php?taxon=2620.

Lisa Fields is a contract agricultural journalist for Professor Quirine Ketterings, and occasionally others at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.