Driving along Southern Arizona streets in May
A near-daily necessity composed of skill, lacking will
Destination over journey
Fortunately, flowers help keep me going.
Saguaro cacti with proudly proffered bouquets of white and green on each arm
Or dense crowns on many heads?
Palo verde trees, some as bold as puddles of spilled yellow paint
Some wispy, elegant green stems twinkling with yellow lights
Then a flow of yellow forest down the dry Rillito River
Red yuccas’ thin stalks polka-dotted with coral-red flowers,
Wispy, yet as withstanding of drought as of urban traffic
Desert willow dressed in simple white
Or gentle pink
Or luscious magenta
As reliable as palo verdes at being all over town
Oleander, coincidentally or convergently evolved
With the same color palette as desert willow
But in bolder – and pollinator-cheating, non-native – strokes
Soaptree yucca, a newly noticed favorite
Fluffy, creamy masses of large white flowers
Reaching up and away from dagger-dense bases
Ocotillos wave flags of bright red
On a blustery May morning
Ironwood trees elicit alternating “Wow”s and “Ahhhh”s,
Some trees massive and mature, thick with flowering branches
To command my attention.
The soft lavender color soothes my weary driving eyes
And slows my racing mind.
May is low on energy at the end of the school year
Minor mourning of wildflowers past
Hot weather and a heavy transition into summer.
And then each year
The flowers that love heat
Help me find joy in the present
Even while driving.
Note: Title image taken while stopped in rush-hour traffic. Pictured are ironwood trees in bloom and soaptree yucca past bloom.