Easter at Joshua Tree

In the desert
every scrap of life
seems more impressive
somehow. Tenacious,
mutated, mutilated 
by the ceaseless sun
to survive by sand 
and rock. Lizards, squirrels,
birds, bugs, snakes, the most
gnarly and repugnant shrubs
you've ever seen hiding wasps'
nests and silkworms and
who knows what else, cacti
blooming little pink flowers,
and the trees, all poised in chaotic
poses, liable to break out 
dancing any moment now