Ode to a Sonoran Jojoba
Oba Jojoba
Most lovely helpmate companion
Succulent soap and hero unsung
How many whales swim free
Because of your gifts of golden oils?
Generous to a fault
A sprung Persephone
Humble and enduring and slightly waxy
A blooming god in the harshness of heat and light
Pear-shaped leaves
Turk’s cap of green
You rule the sands
And yield secrets to mortals
Without complaint or repayment.
Forgive me when my eyes seek the hawk
Or the track of a lion
Or the glamour of a cereus.
It is you
Homespun bloom
Patient continuity
That I come to
In my pain
Of scrapes in need of antiseptic
Of earthly ailments
How could I love you more
Revere your woody arms
Your cloistered roots
“Jojoba” by Erec Toso from The Sonoran Desert, A Literary Field Guide edited by Eric Magrane, Christopher Cokinos, and Paul Mirocha. © 2016 the Arizona Board of Regents. Reprinted by permission of the University of Arizona Press.
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