Tucson Audubon Society
A Day In A Desert Institution

A poem by Evan Dick about the 2007 IDE

We're on a London Rocket trip.
Cruising by laffy taffy mountains
that look like Javalina molars .
Swooping back down to
the valley we find
shelter from the sun
under a microphyllus tree,
next to a nursing Saguaro.
We listen closely as a desert sage
passes on a lifetime's worth of thoughts
on these columns of water
masquerading as cactus .

Leaving the hill on the back
of an American Kestrel,
we drop off to examine the ovaries
of an Evening Primrose,
and follow a line of ants
past a fat Horned Lizard
hiding in the sand.
We're on the wrong side of
this chow line!

Back to camp for salad
with spray on dressing!
Who knew?

Next we walk into the starlit desert.
Led by a pair of bonded ecologists
to talk with an Elf,
owl of course.

And stare in silence
at a curious Otus kennicottii,
till we begin to sleep on our tired feet.

Back to Camp Eddie Bauer ä
To dream of deserts and
wake to cold rain.
Sorry Ronnie, some days
really are longer than others!

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This page was updated on 02/22/05