Irrigation: our figs in the Sahara.

A false hope, but we did it every day. 

First sandy asparagus in the desert takes capital investment—

extreme overwatering is needed, even for the russian olives.

Maybe after that the roots can reach

the water table fringe on wet days.

Powell knew it wouldn’t sustain

but nobody read beyond his title page.

We irrigated because we were below

the acequia madre that miraculously ran on and on.

We used gravity and crafty, delicate sand furrows.

Dreams of fresh spears below our engineered riachuelos:

Jasper’s desert pasture is all paved.

Those glorious boulevards flash after T-storms—what a rush!

Later an inevitable, litigated fizzle looms

with pointed and probably painful endings

and no banker left behind.

Exponential cadillac desert.

The overuse of water in the desert west was anticipated by JW Powell but by virtually no other gringoes.  The spanish used irrigation carefully and creatively and the native americans didn’t read Powell but understood by direct experience and deep thought how to do sustainable conservation of agriculural land. My experience as a gringo boy was predictably lame.