I found a 1950′s guide called “100 Desert Wildflowers in natural color” in a July 4th sale in the Barnard Town Hall. The gaudy photos and text have inspired an ekphrastic-like series — I am up to 15, the “Parry Agave.” Here’s an early draft and photo (not the book’s photo which didn’t scan very well).
Parry Agave
Parry Agave
She brings gifts of Mescaline, Tequila
and a Mexican beer called Pulque. Burn
the stalks in a pit, go off
into the mountains, mix it all up
together and the sky burns,
dusty hillsides fill with yellow snow,
cacti turn into husky-voiced women,
desert crows begin to sing
some crazy song only you understand.
The din grows, the old ones appear
out of nowhere, light obliterates
the dark and your skull splits open.
This is a once
in a lifetime party.