Tresha Faye Haefner

As you approach the road through the desert,
the coyotes howl, their high, silver cries.
Proof that something lives in these hills.
Moon-quiet. Valley purpled with thought.
Boulders gather like lost gods
broken by the angels.
Raven’s large wings swoop so noisy
she reminds me what it is to be human. In the sage,
the invisible owls bark
their warnings.
Ghosts of the Cahuilla watch over
these large spiders crossing a road,
birds twisting into sand.
When the road dies,
the desert finds you. An emptiness
so complete you can almost call it home.

Tresha Faye Haefner is the founder of the online writing community, The Poetry Salon, and author of When the Moon Had Antlers (Pine Row Press 2023). She is also the winner of the Robert and Adele Schiff Poetry Prize, Pangea Prize, and other awards. Find her at thepoetrysalonstack.substack.com.