I found her curled beneath a creosote bush, three miles out, where no one ever goes. Her parched lips mouthed, "I knew you'd come." I nursed her in my shelter, beneath the red stone cliff. Water first, in tiny sips, then slowly bits of food. At nightfall we sat across the fire, her eyes assaying me. "Coyote?" she whispered. "And Raven, too?" I gave no answer. We made love three times while the full moon arced. With each c...

Then for a dwelling place, far 'neath the earth crust, blasted great spaces they by their power, spaces apart from the children of men.  Surrounded them by forces and power,  shielded from harm they the Halls of the Dead.                                        - The Emerald Tablets of Thoth      I was once told by a friend that the desert was a terrible, unforgiving place. He wasn’t wrong.   In the end, though my pride as...

"A Walk in the Desert" (c) Mike Stone October 8, 2014   Tuvi Ornat put the old concert ticket he'd been using as a bookmark between the two pages he had been reading and laid the dog-eared paperback gently on the table beside his chair. He stood up and stretched his arms. "I'm going for a walk," Tuvi called upstairs but there was no response. He scribbled a short note and slid a small corner of it beneath her tea mug on t...

Jeweled kingdomPeople zooThe sex of richesWon by few Palatial coolnessInferno blazingMisted desertLustful gazing Lines of feedersSnaking throughMazesWaitingFor their food Glitz and showgirlsOiled menConventionersAnd lost weekends FantasiesAnd booze galoreThe beauties, beastsArray of whores Pay to playThen rue the costOf visitingParadise Las.

I don't know if I wanna sit about doing nothing or nap. I kinda want both,but also neither.Sleep feels much nearer but doing nothing is more of a head clearer. The trouble with naps,is you either wake up refreshed,or you find a desert has set up shopin your mouth, of all places. You see the dilemma, right?My muscles feel tight,so a nap might be just right. Tiredness is a blight.

I love it, this heat The scorching sun that sizzles on tar roads The searing metal of a seat belt buckle. Sure we complain One hundred and seventeen degrees Farenheit Some sadistic streak lets us enjoy The strolling walk in golf. Our shade is the long pole shadow Of a saguaro cactus Our drink is in the Holy Grail Of a mirage, untouchable There is little more precious than a good glass of water And a good deal of shade. Sh...

Everything is dead or dying, My brother tells me. There isnothing alive and green.I run to the window and show hima beauty like none elsewhere but here.Look, I tell him pointing, the bushes areboldly green. Wild do they grow,and so carefree. Can't you see, brother?Even the desert can be green.Green it may be, he says, but alive it is not.See how the center is brown and gone?That is not alive. That is gone. A lizard races...

The Queen's Hammer Queen's Royal Hussars our challengers jump to life bringer of death to thy enemy new blokes welcome to the sand box sitting in my turret cup of afternoon tea a song comes across the radio I'm a soldier in the Queen's Army I'm a galloping Queen's Hussar I've sailed the ocean wide and blue I'm a chap who knows a thing or two Been in many tight corner Shown the enemy who we are a roar goes down the line Go...

I had radio watch. I usually did four hours a night. I wrote letters by flashlight. The letters all had a box in the lower left corner with tick-marks that I slashed into the notebook paper every time I saw a falling star. Mars marched angrily across the Iraqi sky. "ROAD KNIGHT ONE . . . THIS IS BLACK HORSE . . .RADIO CHECK, OVER." came a crackling voice on the radio. We were supposed to do radio checks every hour, but it...

"Watch for tortoise" the signboard said,A flashing yellow light shone out.The warning was seen up ahead And the meaning left little doubt. We felt glad for the sentiment,That the Parks still carried the light,And they stayed in their elementKeeping true to the public's right. Passing through the desert this dayWe noted how great was the trustThat they kept in the truest way,And gladdened our hearts as it must. Not beautif...

Crossing a desert is never a child's play. There's always so much of sands to get over.  Blistering sun during the day-time and unending thirst.  Camel-toes planting patterns ununderstandable. Crossing a desert is of no worth  If there's no river once you cross over,  If enough drinking-water is not available  At all the inns near the river bank. Have you ever chanced to see the yellow moon  Up above the desert sky? No, I...

  Far from the sea, her sighing dunes All wander lost beneath the moons That wax and wane in an eternal sky; Where subtle symphonies of light And wondrous silences of night Draw the four winds from their pavilions, To rage across the stony plains, To drive away the beating rains Towards a pale haze on the horizon. There a spear of sandstone towers; Keeper of the daylight hours And kindly magus of sweet soothing shade. To...