Sand Specters, Rick Hartwell

Rainless, summer-desert storms;

Tumults of heat, sand, distance,

Without cacophony of clashing sound,

Only surge and sigh of omnipresent winds.

Rising from Death Valley’s core,

Sand tendrils licking the desert sky;

Swirling columns, articulated stone,

Cast and mortared by dervish breath;

Momentary monuments cast by nature.

Against a backdrop of purpled majesties,

Interactive sculptures lifted in supplication,

Risen above praying shrubs in dry arroyos,

Bowed in obeisance, bent but not subdued.