This wizened mind will ebb, this desiccated soul will seep
into the land, as water poured upon this land will seep
beneath the grains of sand. An evanescing shine recedes
there on the ground and vanishes, as avid, thirsty air
sears the sere sunwashed soil. The dark and glistening patch contracts,
shrinks to a dot, one last and longing grain of rock still damp
then it too dries, no sign that water ever touched this land
except the fluid carving in the rock, the chasms cut
as one and then another futile storm expends itself,
gouging the land, rending the land, but making no dent
in the land’s unceasing thirst. This emptiness of land
will eat my emptiness. I will suffuse into the earth,
this earth, this desolate expanse of varnished rock and thorn,
this welcoming, familiar disregard, ambivalence
its lovers’ currency. Some distance must be kept.
Wicked cats’ claws adorn these limbs, and their sharp pain at first
is gentleness contrasted with the pain they cause upon
release; barb-studded quills to rend the skin. It is enough
to fall into their grasp. To pull away again is ruin.
I will walk naked out into the waste, will bleed me out
in desolate mad glory, and each drop of me that falls
will seep beneath these grains of sand, an evanescing shine.
2009 Calendar

For those of you planning to schedule anything in the new year, please consider doing so by way of writing the relevant scheduling info on a 2009 Coyote Crossing calendar, available to you now for only $24.95. Take a look here!
Networking
Walking With Zeke
A journal of an aging dog, the people who loved him, and the wildlife-filled neighborhood in which he spent his last months.
"The best self-published book of the year." — Lawrence Hogue, author, All The Wild and Lonely Places
Desert Artists and Writers
Desert- and Coyote-related sites
Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve SNR
Arthur B. Ripley Desert Woodland SP
Audubon: Kerncrest (CA) chapter
Audubon: Red Rock (Southern NV)
California Desert and Mountain Wilderness Campaign
City of Lancaster : Prime Desert Woodland Preserve
Mojave Desert Information Center
Predator-Friendly Certification for ag products and livestock
Sierra Club Desert Report (CA/NV)
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
Blogs worth reading
A Change in the Wind (Updated 3 hours, 30 minutes ago)
Adventure Journalist (Tee Poole) (Updated 8 hours, 19 minutes ago)
Alan Gregory's Conservation News
Bats Left Throws Right (Updated 6 hours, 14 minutes ago)
Brooklynite (Updated 20 hours, 17 minutes ago)
Cocktail Party Physics (Updated 2 hours, 13 minutes ago)
Cosmic Variance (Updated 16 hours, 57 minutes ago)
destinations (Updated 5 hours, 5 minutes ago)
Earthman's Notebook (Updated 1 day, 5 hours, 11 minutes ago)
Fact-esque (Updated 1 day, 12 hours, 42 minutes ago)
Faux Real Tho! (Updated 1 day, 9 hours, 21 minutes ago)
Feathers of Hope (Updated 1 hour, 5 minutes ago)
Greg Laden (Updated 5 hours, 24 minutes ago)
I Gallop On (Updated 11 hours, 15 minutes ago)
Invasive Species Weblog (Updated 19 hours, 52 minutes ago)
Jon Swift (Updated 1 hour, 30 minutes ago)
Lance Mannion (Updated 4 hours, 32 minutes ago)
mole (Updated 12 hours, 14 minutes ago)
Nature Blog (Updated 5 hours, 13 minutes ago)
Only in New Mexico (Jim Baca) (Updated 17 hours, 2 minutes ago)
Orcinus (Updated 13 hours, 43 minutes ago)
Pharyngula (Updated 4 hours, 51 minutes ago)
Rants and Revelations (Updated 1 day, 8 hours, 31 minutes ago)
Shakesville (Updated 9 hours ago)
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo (Updated 1 hour, 40 minutes ago)
Space Kitty (Updated 14 hours, 16 minutes ago)
the cassandra pages (Updated 9 hours, 40 minutes ago)
The Hedonistic Pleasureseeker (Updated 6 hours, 44 minutes ago)
The Nowtopian (Chris Carlsson) (Updated 1 day, 1 hour, 4 minutes ago)
The Practical Nomad blog (Updated 3 hours, 43 minutes ago)
The Unapologetic Mexican (Updated 1 hour, 3 minutes ago)
Theriomorph (Updated 1 day, 8 hours, 28 minutes ago)
Thought for Food (Updated 2 hours, 39 minutes ago)
Toad in the Hole (Updated 15 hours, 36 minutes ago)
Up! (Updated 4 hours, 19 minutes ago)
Via Negativa (Updated 9 hours, 24 minutes ago)
Wampum (Updated 13 hours, 10 minutes ago)
What are we doing in this handbasket?
Writing As Jo(e) (Updated 13 hours, 50 minutes ago)
Zuky (Updated 1 hour, 33 minutes ago)