I wrote this in northern Arizona.
This poem is only published here.
The Elk Poop in Serenity Pond
In the high desert, agave and pines share space
and talk to each other about the elk,
who eat the agave stalk just as it starts
to believe it can reach pine height someday.
The elk mother and father bring the babies
up to the cabin and park beneath the pines
next to the driveway as if they can do anything,
as if they are God, as if we are all the same.