Of Desert Rats (A Tale of Survival)

 

Photo © Jennifer Wagner

Even after the bandages

come off, my post-surgery hand

still feels like I am waving

a Mickey Mouse glove

as I walk the block

in Phoenix heat.

 

But I won’t duck into

the cool A/C yet—

not while I’m watching

the old black-and-white

neighborhood street cat

chase off a coyote

five times his size,

then saunter back, leap up,

and stretch himself long

across my neighbor’s truck roof.

 

Wile E. returns, crouched

behind a pile of Apache-gold rocks, waiting.

 

I love this desert.

People keep trying to

put a fork in its belly,

proclaiming we’re cooked.

 

Oh no. 

Tomorrow there may be

blood in the street,

but it won’t belong

to us desert-rat

cool cats.

 

 

© 2026 Jennifer Wagner

Feline Equinox Prophet of Summer in Arizona

 

He survives on rats and pool water,

evades coyotes and heat,

and taunts our Siamese through the patio door.

 

He’s not quite John the Baptist,

eating locusts and wild honey,

but that fur looks like

it could have been nicked from a camel,

clumps dyed white and black.

 

And, he does have that dry, warning, desert-y voice, too—

calling out, Phoenix, get your shit together—

it’s about to rain fire.  One Who is coming

is mightier than Spring.

 

 

© 2025 Jennifer Wagner

 

What’s Going On?  Equinox:  Signs of Spring