Monday, December 9, 2019

Desert Serenade




image from onegreenplanet.com

Desert Serenade

“In the desert the line between life and death
is sharp and quick.”--Brian Herbert.

From a moving car the Southwestern desert
looks barren, placid, even inert, but I took a
camera, built a sagebrush blind, and sat for
a whole day. I found that death sweeps over 
the halcyon hotbed like a shimmering mirage, 
rife with survival scenarios.

A Gila monster is climbing a cactus in pursuit of
bird’s eggs. Though it’s venomous, and marked
like a diamond back, it’s a lizard. A gray sand
spider is burying itself, preparing to leap out and
attack small prey. A pair of golden eagles are 
swooping down and feasting on jack rabbits.

Suddenly a cow is screaming across the arroyo
nearby. She is limping, viciously pursued by three
coyotes, Her rear flanks are bloody from bites.
They quickly disappear behind a sand hillock.
Then coyote yips and whines fill the air. I guess
they met the herd bull.



Glenn Buttkus

Prosery

Posted over at dVerse Poets Pub
at

14 comments:

  1. Victoria StuartDecember 9, 2019 at 1:52 PM

    I love this, Glenn. The beautiful imagery. So many exquisite details. And the drama of coyotes meeting the bull! What a great twist at the end.

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  2. Linda Lee LybergDecember 9, 2019 at 1:53 PM

    This is stunning Glenn. So much packed into so few words!

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  3. Sascha DarlingtonDecember 9, 2019 at 2:14 PM

    From your description, I feel like I am right there seeing the landscape and nature's savagery.

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  4. Jade LiDecember 9, 2019 at 2:29 PM

    I love this line:
    "death sweeps over
    the halcyon hotbed like a shimmering mirage"
    We're all in a fight for survival, some of it more in your face than others. Such a well-articulated prosery, Glenn.

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  5. Frank HubenyDecember 9, 2019 at 3:53 PM

    A lot of screaming between the cow and those coyotes. I like how you resolved the situation with the bull arriving.

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  6. tonispencerDecember 9, 2019 at 4:49 PM

    Excellent. I live the details in this. Wonder why the cow was out wandering around in the first place.

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  7. TruedessaDecember 9, 2019 at 5:09 PM

    Loved it! I knew you would deliver a great Prosery.

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  8. Judy Dykstra-BrownDecember 9, 2019 at 8:16 PM

    You certainly capture the desert, Glenn.

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  9. Kim M. RussellDecember 9, 2019 at 11:30 PM

    You drew me into the landscape and action immediately in the first paragraph, Glenn – the moving car is a literal and metaphorical vehicle! This sentence was chilling but wonderfully detailed: ‘I found that death sweeps over the halcyon hotbed like a shimmering mirage, rife with survival scenarios.’ I love the descriptions of desert wildlife in the second paragraph, and then the battle for life – hooray for the herd bull!

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  10. Ken GierkeDecember 10, 2019 at 7:04 AM

    Well told. Survival has many faces.

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  11. sarahDecember 10, 2019 at 11:26 AM

    And that's what bulls are for. I was with you all the way here.

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  12. brudbergDecember 10, 2019 at 12:18 PM

    The southwest with all it's critter and that sudden action of the cow and the coyotes... excellently captured.

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  13. MargaretDecember 10, 2019 at 3:47 PM

    If more people had time to enjoy such places for a whole day, I think our concern for the environment would be a force to reckon with. Beautifully written.

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  14. lillianthehomepoet.wordpress.comDecember 12, 2019 at 10:50 AM

    A wonderful story....and you've created the setting so well. So true that at first glance the desert is barren and inert. A closer look especially by a photographer looking for life, finds the ways of the dessert -- the life and death ways. And somehow, I'm glad the pursuers met the leading "bull" at the end. I do always root for the under dog .... er cow. Well done!


    Again, and I seem to be doing this lots...apologies for the late reading. Time just seems to get away from me these days! :(

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