Palm Sunday

as in, palms facing outward, fingers down
palm visible, welcome, if not exactly
submissive.

or raised above the head, singular
for greeting, doubly for celebration,
perhaps waving, perhaps not.

is triumphant return, greeting with palms -
palms waving, palms touching, palms
thrown to the air, "look who has come"

a celebration, a meeting, a greeting
"look who has come" - hands,
branches

palms hold water in defiance of the desert,
stare off, if only temporarily, that which
inevitability dictates.

out from the desert, into the desert,
which was preordained. the terminus
and continuum at the same time

"look who has come" - an inevitability.
out from winter's cold to heat and
blowing grit

from out the midwest, palms waving,
rolling into Tucson, Arizona, renew the
commitment to death and beyond.