Late Winter Ride

translucent cloud-terraces
climbed the western sky
bisected by a few awkwardly
angled contrails etched in the blue

spied a roadrunner and a prairie dog
scurrying in opposite directions
amidst early Brittlebush blossoms
already gone blowsy this late winter day

the mighty Santa Cruz
bone-dry as the surrounding desert floor
while the peaks of the Catalinas
wear China-white shawls

–LE – 3/16/25