Tahquitz River - Feb. 24, 2026

they call it a river,

this part-time creek

and full-time flood channel

with enough occasional water

to grow an un-mowed lawn

sprinkled with creosote bushes,

castor bean plants, cattails

and nice-looking Palo Verde tree

until a day last December when

a bulldozer scraped it flat -

like a chunk of skin ripped away

ground squirrels and rabbits

came out of their deepest dens

to see the plowed stew of sand

and rock, the year’s harvest gone

coyotes quickly lost the hunter’s cover

of tall grasses and greenery and

simply hustled through at dusk

and dawn to howl from a distance

most noticed

the nightly orchestra of crickets and frogs

had to be canceled     

indefinitely