Sun, Heat, Structure

From the spherical beehive cactus
to the flattened medallions of the prickly pear 

From a ground of solid rock
to the dust storms that sling about the finest sand

From the radioactive weight of uranium
to the wispy desert plants, little more than web or string

The population that swells in winter 
and shrinks when the snowbirds leave

The solidity of the saguaro, all torso with bulging biceps,
to the graceful sway of the ocotillo, with its array of impossibly slender arms

From the way it saps your strength in summer
to the way it sharpens your mind and senses

The desert is nothing if not a grand experiment in density and form.