I don’t understand the desert
the considered staging of stones
the rise and fall of trails
the suspicious critters ogling us
from all those holes
in the dirt

But most of all, I don’t understand
how a puny cactus wren can
find its way to the sky
to the top of a towering saguaro
perch on that pincushion
and sing

Selected byJenn Zed
Image credit:Robert Murray
Julie Desmond

Julie Desmond (she/hers) is a career coach with a thing for Irish writing, living in the heart of the Great Southwest. Find her books online and her poetry at Open Arts Forum, Lower Stumpf Lake Review, Diotima, Down in the Dirt, Classical Poetry Society, and at postsecret.com.