Death Valley National Park

 

©2015 V. del Casal All Rights Reserved

Once, I thought the desert barren,
a lifeless, stagnant place
of no particular beauty or worth,
but as the years roll by,
and I, too, approach a desert
solely mine,
I find, to my delight, an oasis
of bittersweet contradictions:
life in constant motion,
whose sandy floor bears footprints
just as easily erased
as they were stamped on my soul
by eager visitors.

Posted for NaPoWriMo
©2015 V. del Casal All Rights Reserved

E – Earth, Is That You?

I love deserts. The sand dunes and cactus. Searing heat and the maybe mirages. I dare not visit in the summer, when boiling is balmy, but reserve my sojourns in the winter where the bitter cold is blunted by a brisk climb. Oh, the reward of such a hike upon sitting atop an outcrop! A hundred square miles of Martian terrain revealed while gobbling a chocolate chip cookie. My visits are short, unfortunately. But just enough. A little getaway to another world far removed.

 

Posted for the A-Z Challenge: E and NaPoWriMo and inspired by a visit to Death Valley National Park (the picture is of The Devil’s Golf Course).
©2015 V. del Casal All Rights Reserved

Only tourists now
where once workers teemed like ants.
History corralled.

 

Inspired by a visit to the Harmony Borax Works in Furnace Creek, Death Valley
©2015 V. del Casal All Rights Reserved

Monoliths tower
but even mountains crumble.
One grain at a time.

 

**Look very closely at the top photograph (towards the middle)…that’s right, it’s a photographer and his subject making use of the colorful backdrop that is Artists Palette. Talk about towering mountains! 🙂

©2015 V. del Casal All Rights Reserved