Coyote Crossing

Ripley Desert Woodland

Snow remains this afternoon, thin glazed patches underneath the junipers. Ravens fly in pairs through the Western Mojave sky. A pair approaches, not seeing us behind a stand of juniper and Joshua. First one and then the other double-takes, stumbles

Elysian Park

I miss the certainty I had back then.
I miss the knowing all of it, the keen,
the ardent hewing to my heart’s clear path.
Old men slow-shamble in the liquor aisle,
sigh Russian imprecations baleful, soft
under their smog-choked breath. This

JSTOR Fairies, heed my plea

UPDATE. Got it! Thank you, JSTOR Fairy.

okay, not exactly a JSTOR thing. More like All*n Pr*ss. If anyone out there wants to use their connections to grab me a copy of Reassessment of Yucca brevifolia and Recognition of Y. jaegeriana as a

Kirk Douglas Talks About Lonely Are The Brave

At a party in the early 1960s someone handed Kirk Douglas a copy of Ed Abbey’s novel The Brave Cowboy, recommending Douglas read it. Douglas liked the book enough to option it, and hired Dalton Trumbo to write the screenplay of what became the 1962

Camas

I’ve just been notified that my sonnet cycle Trinity will be published in the upcoming issue of Camas, the environmental and literary journal of the University of Montana. I’m immensely grateful, of course, not to mention flattered at the company

The Memory of Water

This is my whole life: driving alone through the landscapes of the arid West. There is someone waiting for me at home, or there is no one waiting for me at home, or I am already home, watching the far horizon recede through the dust-spattered

Desert Magic

I was pleased with the way the Phantom Seed reading went in Riverside in Saturday. The new issue of Phantom Seed looks great, and there’s a serious pile of good writing there, as well as my pieces “Kessler Peak” and “Epilobium.”

The event drew a

Quick pointers

1) I have a submission up at Postal Poetry. Go check it out.

2) On Saturday, October 4, I will be joining a few other desert writers at the Riverside Public Library, 3581 Mission Inn Ave Riverside, CA, in a reading to celebrate the release of

Optimism

Take my fingers, split nails to the quick,
tear off this sallow skin from nail and bone
and scatter all of it among the rocks
to feed the creosote. This back long-bent
could be reduced to vertebrae and flesh
to jerk and desiccate, this pliant hide … (continues)

Phantom Seed reading, October 4

I’ll be reading some of my work, appearing along with other contributors to the second issue of Phantom Seed, the desert literary journal.

Saturday, October 4, 1:00 p.m.
Riverside Public Library
3581 Mission Inn Ave
Riverside, CA 92501

Hope to

Mark your calendars

If all goes as planned, I will be taking part in an early afternoon reading in Riverside, California on Saturday, October 4. More details here as the event gets firmed up: Southern California friends and readers may want to keep the date and time

qarrtsiluni’d again

My piece Sea Change is up at qarrtsiluni as part of their continuing Transformation … (continues)

Wee Thump at DesertBlog

Larry Hogue was kind enough to invite me to post at DesertBlog, and I’ve put a post there describing the small wilderness area a few miles from my place in … (continues)

Now playing elsewhere

My piece Bighorn has been published in the Transformation issue of qarrtsiluni. Go check it out. … (continues)

Dry

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

In the light of day

In the light of day
even the desert asphalt
sparkles like diamonds.

Obsidian heart
bleeds joyous carnelian;
my eyes turn … (continues)

Coyote Crossing

Today I pulled a dead coyote pup off of the road.
He’d evidently lain out in the sun a little while,
but death and desert sun had not erased the sweet sly guile
there on his face, mute eyes with arid dignity unbowed
despite a cloak of flies. Across