In the Saguaro Forest

Sonnets and Lyrics. The Sonoran Desert of south-central Arizona teems with marvelous plant life: the green-skinned tree called Palo Verde; dagger-leaved agaves with their towering flower spikes; the spiny spears of the Ocotillo; and countless cacti chollas, prickly pears, barrel cacti, hedgehogs, pincushions, and on and on. Amid these lesser wonders stands the Saguaro, king of cacti, spreading its almost-human arms above its subjects. From this monarch the Saguaro Forest takes its name. And from the paradox of the green desert the arid forest the poems of the present collection were born. A Saguaro Forest surrounds us all. The world is the Saguaro Forest a place of beauty and wonder, ever pointing beyond itself to the greater beauty and wonder of its First Cause and Final End, while at the same time confronting us with the discomfort and danger of its thorns, reminding us that this is no Eden, that for the present we partake of paradise only by Hope.