High Desert Opus

Expansive beauty
not singularities

extravagant rock ruins
in primeval silence

multi-hued offerings
of impressionistic clout

prodigious vistas
towering far and wide

all revelatory bits
from Earth's deep-time story.

Modern Solace

Earth's stamina
supersedes

despite pestilence
she survives

and war
she endures

and covetousness
she recovers

with ancient genealogy
she consoles

undefeated
by human malfeasance.

Arroyology

Narrow, wide, wider
steep-sided, vacant spaces

maze-like conduits
plumbing high desert country

mostly dry...until deluged
by nature's unleashed fury

still gully shrubs revivify
oblivious to flooding terrors.