Desert Ecology Lesson 3: Landforms – Wadis and Runnels

Lady of the Castle by Joeri Van Royen

Dryness.  Wadis and runnels stark.

Beside them, one desert lark linking

sky and earth, quenching its thirst

at the thorny salt wort, singing

in the language of longing,

igniting the listener’s desire.

The lark, in full light, takes flight,

and you the wandering pilgrim—

watching, rootless and wingless—

wax envious.  Somberness, another

kind of darkness, envelopes you.

In the hilly terrain, southwestern region,

massive ridges and elevations with low-

lying long runnels create wadis Galal,

Dhiab, Al-Jah with their flora—

Pennisetum divisum forming phytogenic

mounds in the main channels, their shrubs—

Acacia ehrenbergiana and Lycium shawii,

their special feature: fine sediments cracking

after drying, or rolling—in the main channels—

into thin clay crusts like Pepperidge Farm’s

Pirouette rolled wafers.

Long runnels: one type dissecting desert

pavement on limestone Miocene ridgetops;

another lying at low levels between elevated

hamala ridges; the third draining the plateau

(every pilgrim should know)—their downstreams

meandering westward.  Stones and gravel,

angular fragments, rock detritus.

Then, short narrow runnels dissecting

the ridges’ gentle slopes, and runnels cutting

backwards (pilgrim, come up close)—

confined to the Miocene ridges, result of

erosion and disintegration—fine rock detritus

on which grow Acacia ehrenbergiana

and Pennisetum divisum, and on the wind-

deposited sand, Panicum turgidum.

These wadis and runnels like the Spirit’s

messengers offering hope, encouraging

patience and faith—word become runnel

through which life-giving water eventually

will flow across this span of arid land

that you, dear pilgrim, feel you’ve known

forever.  Peace be to dry, expectant

wadis and runnels winding through desolate

yet ultimately blessed space.

~ Diana Woodcock

Since receiving an M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing in 2004, Diana Woodcock has been teaching writing courses at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar. Previously, she spent nearly eight years working in Tibet, Macau, and on the Thai-Cambodian border.  She is a PhD candidate/Creative Writing (distance learning) at Lancaster University.