The closing of the saguaro harvest brought monsoon rains. This photo was taken at the closing of the last day of the 2016 harvest, just before the Bringing Down the Clouds ceremony, marking the Tohono O'odham New Year.
Forty Days: an Invitation to the Desert
For the 2016 Dia de San Juan Ceremony at the Tohono O'odham Saguaro Harvest
The saguaros stand
Arms open in invitation
Extended in praise
Hearts full of birds
And boots
And water
And they call to you
Come to the desert
The place of trials
The land of healing
The full empty spaces
Where gods speak to men
Where ravens feed prophets
And scales fall
From cynics' eyes
Come
And let the sun purify you
Bake you into something stronger
Let the ancient cells
In you
Remember what they used to be
And allow the soft dry wind
To evaporate your cares
Turning them to dust
As your own body's saltiness
Shimmers
On your skin
It is safe
In this hostile place
To dissect the excruciatingly imponderable
Tease out the raw nerves
Of your deepest soul
And heal the wounds
Within
Come out here
Into the wilderness
Of thorns and grit
To find your own soft lushness
Once again