Where Grasses Bend

March 2020. America began to shut down due to the Sars-COVID pandemic. Travel was halted. Workers were required to stay home. Medical facilities became flooded with sick and dying patients. Senior living homes locked their doors to family members. But what of the lovers? Part l of this book is dedicated to all the lovers who were separated by the pandemic, who could no longer access love, human contact, and intimacy, for what is a world without love? The poems in Part II were written about our country's declining state, the growing rate of poverty due to the pandemic, and the deconstruction of humanity that has taken place during the past 3 years of Covid. As the years of the pandemic suffered on and hatred festered in the United States, my partner and I decided to move away from the insanity of the city for the open wilderness of Oregon where we could once again breathe deeply, living our lives regenerating love while becoming stewards of this beautiful land upon which we live. The poems in Part lll are an homage to desert life in the wilderness.