36 Comments

Snakeskin tumbling by

Flies picking a dusty corpse

Death, thy name is Drought

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author

Such great imagery! Very apocalyptic🖤

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I have a few this time.

Dirt dead and useless

Over used, no nutrients

We die with the dirt

——

Dry heat like murder

Drowning crops without water

Mother’s a killer

——

She’s killing herself

In a bad relationship

Gone dry from abuse

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author

Nice! I really like them all, but I think #1 is my favorite, such a dark connection to make🖤

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Stagnant river dreams.

How succulent are spiders?

Will stones slake a thirst?

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author

So good! Succulent spiders are a mouth image I will not soon forget😝🖤

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Mamma's dry dugs gone dry.

'Mamma dry as dust', I cry.

Leave body in the dust and sigh.

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author

I love how your poems always tell a little bit of a story and leave me wondering. It’s very cool🖤

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Jul 13·edited Jul 13Liked by Honeygloom

Thanks a lot that's the intention that they be sort of fragments of stories almost

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Jul 13Liked by Honeygloom

Moisture withheld from

Seared stones and wan withered shrubs

Wanting libations

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author

Very nice! Desert plants are so awesome, love that you gave them a shout out🖤

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Jul 13Liked by Honeygloom

They bite, too!😂

You should do a plant based horror on Jumping Cholla...😉

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author

I actually have a mini cholla in my cactus collection, it’s in a pot with a little handle so I can avoid touching it at all costs😂

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Jul 13Liked by Honeygloom

Ants drag dead dry leaves

Across sand and broken stones

Meager fare foraged

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author

Ok this made me really worried about desert ants and I had to stop and google to see what they could eat😅 Nice job evoking emotion! 🖤

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Jul 13Liked by Honeygloom

Thanks; stole it from one of my longer poems:

https://ordinaryaverageguy.substack.com/p/dust-and-shadows

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Cracked earth gasps for rain

Hope fades like water vapor

Bones of trees bleached white

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author

The middle line is such a great image! So good!🖤

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Cracked hard pan seeks

Sun’s shelter as arid dust flies

Withers age wizened ways

Skeletons worn white

Not a cloud in sight

Rain dances bring relief.

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author

Well done! The last line is so hopeful, love it🖤

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Rain is a precious commodity in Las Vegas.

Dust rises, sun bakes

Cracks in the earth yawning wide—

Where is the mercy?

.

Eyes on parched fields,

Fingers trace empty rain gauge—

Dreams of cloud's embrace.

.

Thirsty land whispers,

Longing for the sky's sweet tears—

Promises unkept.

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author

These are all so heartbreaking, it must be a little terrifying to live in such a place🖤

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It’s the high desert. Water has always been in short supply but the county has great water procedures in place.

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When the last drop leaves

One thing shall remain - creatures

becoming bacon

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author

🫠get it while it’s hot! Really great and very disturbing image!🖤

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Jul 13Liked by Honeygloom

Grim wastelands beckon

Pink plump tourists unwary of

How thirst ravages

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author

Ooo dark! I love this, ignorance is the true horror in the desert.

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Jul 13·edited Jul 13Liked by Honeygloom

I think of all the people I met who got stuck unprepared in the Mojave...a lot of Europeans! Completely alien environment to them!😂

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author

Oh yeah, huh… they’d have to go to Africa or I guess Mongolia, that’s a different kind of desert though I think. Wild. I grew up camping in the deserts in Utah, I absolutely love those red rocks❤️

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I'm in central NM now...not desert, just on the edge (it starts just south of us around Socorro). Still pretty dry, though...😂

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An arid wasteland

Searching the ether for hope

Within barren skies.

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author

You always write tragedy so beautifully, I love this so much🖤

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Thank you ❤️🩷

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Too many long years,

Left parched and unloved, so now,

The land thirsts for blood... 😎

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author

Love it! The land gains sentience due to neglect. Very cool🖤

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It will have its vengeance! Haha... 😎

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