Desert Whippersnapper

 

The whip snake came

looking for black-throated sparrows

in the cholla,

twisting her braided scales

around the palo verdes

and catclaws.

She was nervous, though, and hungry,

and it was nearing night.

 

She didn’t notice

the minor shift on the limb

of a grandaddy saguaro,

so busy was she hissing and striking

at anything that moved,

mouth gaping like a blood red tulip.

 

A quick and seasoned cactus wren,

with irises glittering and peeled on the scrub below,

shuttled her brood

into their own sleepy hollow

in the arm of the saguaro—

and tipclawed out again

to watch the night feast.

 

Silent horseman of the desert,

the great horned owl, swooped

and gripped that whip

like a coachman

severing the spine in his talon.

 

Mrs. Wren Marple thought to herself,

I didn’t even have to miss Fallon!

I’m always in the wrong place at the right time—

I saw all this before Law & Order at nine!

 

 

© 2025 Jennifer Wagner

 

For Shay’s Word Garden Word List

And that’s a wrap, folks!  Thirty poems in 30 days for National Poetry Month were sometimes a heavy task, even for an armchair detective, so today I had to go light!  

 

Greetings from the Mother Road

 

With Jackson, standin' on the corner,

winds are low, had a glass of Arizona

tea.  We are a fine sight to see.

 

Even an eagle stopped to take a look at me.

I mostly write, Jackson sings,

hocked some guitar strings.

 

But baby, if I could afford a flatbed ford,

I’d open up if you were climbing in,

maybe.  Is it true, you’ve been gettin’

your kicks with other chicks?

 

Write back soon, and don’t forget (me)!

 

Take it easy,

Winona, Route 66

 

 

© 2025 Jennifer Wagner

 

Poem-A-Day 26:  write a hermit crab poem (in this case, a poem that takes on the form of a postcard)

 

Photos © Jennifer Wagner.  The iconic corner of Winslow, AZ on Route 66 with statue of Jackson Browne who wrote the song “Take it Easy” with Glenn Frey for the Eagles.  My poem references many of the lyrics, as well as some from the classic “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” song.

 

Half/Rest

 

It’s fantastic

how You meet me here

in my undoing—spit-shined

as if You don’t see it all.

 

Those smudges

have just made it worse—

I can see that now.

 

But, in my belly

there’s half a Santa Cruz peanut butter

and Southwest honey sandwich,

and half a glass of sun tea

fresh-bled in the Arizona sun.

 

Why “Arizona’s?”  It’s all of ours, really.

But it feels like it’s mine today.

 

Mr. Siamese watches with me

the half a dozen

Gambel’s quails marching around

pecking the yard

filling their already plump physiques—

turbans bouncing.

 

I smile and laugh, and it feels good,

since I’ve already cried three times today,

after a dry spell.

 

My son’s big warm hand,

the one I used to fit into mine,

rests for a moment on my shoulder

 

and I forget

all the other things

resting on me.

 

 

© 2025 Jennifer Wagner

 

Poem-a-Day 16:  write a “something fantastic” poem

 

“Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”  Matthew 11:28

“Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.”  1 Peter 5:7