The Magic of Joshua Tree

I know that this next statement will push me further into being a cliche, but I fucking love trees. I try to love and respect all living things, but plants are cool, and trees are fucking amazing. I’m not an outdoorsman, rather a man that just likes being outside, and I know that I’ve rarely shared many of my poems about trees, but there’s enough of them that I’ve got an idea for a collection of poetry someday.

Palm trees used to be my favorite tree. They make me happy. They only grow in warm climates and I hate being cold. For the last few decades I’ve dreamt of living amongst them. But over the last two years that’s begun to change and the palm tree has been edged out of my favorites spot by the magical, sacred Joshua Tree. Have you ever seen one?

Joshua Trees aren’t like other trees. They only grow in one area of the world, the Mojave Desert area, and even then, most usually only between elevations of 1,200 - 5,900 feet. There’s only a smattering of places in the desert where you can find them, in Nevada, Arizona, California, Utah and northwest Mexico.

They say that the earliest people to live amongst the Joshua Trees, people from the Pinto Culture, were there around as early as 8,000 BCE, and that there were other indigenous peoples after them, the Serranos, the Cahuilla, the Chemeheuvi, and the Mojaves. Those first peoples used the sacred Joshua Tree as a sustaining food source, and as building and weaving material.

Then along came the Spanish, exploring and claiming new lands as their own in the 1700s. Then the Mexicans achieved independence from Spain, and the Mexicans claimed California and the Joshua Trees, and then California became part of the United States, and the Mormons of all people, they believe this is the origin, came to the Joshua Tree area looking for more freedom, and they think they called them Joshua Trees because of a biblical story involving Moses holding up his arms while Joshua conquered a city.

Now here’s the wildest part to me. That story about Moses, it probably happened around 1500 BCE maybe. It’s hard to tell with accuracy, but either way, Moses wasn’t even fucking alive for a few thousand more years AFTER the first Pinto People settled into the Joshua Tree area. The more I read and learn about the history of our world, the crazier it all gets. Yeah man, these trees, and the first settlers of this area are way older than modern religion. I don’t even know where I’m going with all this information, just sharing the things I learn along the way, and one thing I know for certain, a tree this fucking cool, and special that only grows in one area of the world, its worth learning more about.

Listen, everything I’ve shared so far is backed by research and science, with hard data and facts. And this is where I’ll deviate from that and tell you this, there is something unquantifiable, but magical and sacred about the Tree, the desert, the National Park, and the town. And I’m not the only one that says this. You can google ‘magic Joshua tree’ and find all sorts of hipster/tourist rainbow mumblings about it. There are some that claim unseen energy vortices and fault lines. There’s the whole Gram Parsons thing. There’s dozens of retreats, and meditations, and healers.

Joshua Tree has its myths and legends, but to me the proof in the magic only happens when you visit for yourself. I can tell you that we know deserts are sacred because they’ve been metaphorized to death by religion, poets, and religious poets. Just like the ocean, the moon, the mountains, there’s a magic pull that deserts have if you’re the type that pays attention to feelings. But beyond the generic desert magic, there is something special about the place that grows trees that seem to smile and dance. I tell you, those fucking Joshua Trees, comrades, those are happy fucking trees. They dance, smile, wiggle, giggle and wink at you, all without moving an inch. They’re like Mona Lisa’s eyes but instead of following you, you follow them.

And listen. I did some up close looking and studying with these trees on this trip. I’m not gonna say I hugged them, but there were some friendly moments. No two Joshua Tree looks like any of the others. None of them are identical. They leap left and right, they twist, they lean, they do the boogie woogie. They are their own version of their kind and I love every one of them.

I am not a holy man. Not even a spiritual one. Just an average human that’s learned to marvel at the mystery and magic of things you can feel, but not necessarily name. I don’t even want to find a name for these feels, I just want to swim in them, and if you’ve ever witnessed an entire field of Joshua Trees, then you know that swimming thing I’m talking about. It’s sort of the same feeling you get when viewing the Grand Canyon, or the Pacific Ocean, or seeing a starry night from the middle of the nowhere desert. The feeling of small but connected. Of awestruck and being mortal. The Joshua Trees, and the desert where they grow, it has that same unnamed energy. That same ability to make you believe in any god presented to you at the moment of their viewing. The Joshua Tree is so powerful that it almost turns me from atheist to agnostic, all on its own.

Beyond this sacred tree, the National Park, which is slightly larger than the state of Rhode Island, has its own magic quirks and qualities. It’s the number one place in the country for viewing the night sky. You seriously haven’t stopped to consider how magical a place must be to provide you the best, naked and most undisturbed view of the heavens? C’mon now. This ain’t rocket science, it’s heart science. It’s truth that a clean heart knows without saying it.

And the town? They get over 3 million visitors to the area every year, but somehow it’s not a cheesy tourist town. There’s one giant cowboy statue at a gift shop, but most of those types of tourists are going to Vegas, or north or south of Joshua Tree, where there’s some of the best off road vehicle driving to be found in the world, and while Joshua Tree National Park has over a thousand miles of dirt roads you can ride ATV’s on, off-roading in the park is illegal and California is serious about protecting those magical Joshua Trees. They are listed as endangered, but at the low end of least concern. Harming one or damaging the park brings penalties of thousands of dollars in fines and possible jail time, and rightly fucking so.

What I’m trying to tell you beloved comrades, is that if you have the means and opportunity, you should go check this place out. Go spend some days in the Park on holy ground. Go see the Beatnik Lounge, visit Noah Purifoy, bathe in the desert sun and let its dust clean your chakras, if you believe in those things. And if you don’t, you will by the time you drive away the car radio playing Joshua Tree smiles on every found channel.

And we’re lucky. If we’re talking now, the Joshua Trees, barring any horrific and unimaginable wildfires, will be there through our lifetimes to enjoy. To dance with. To sing with and find healing from. Unfortunately for the next generations, the sacred tree might not survive the next 150 years of climate change, a reality so overwhelmingly sad to me, that I can’t bear to continue discussing it. The tragedies and travesties of mankind, of which I’ve never felt more connected and a part of than I do right now, after this epic roadtrip, those sins of the people, they’re sharpening my love and kindness for myself and others everyday. I hope the same for you.

And you know me, I can not hug you goodbye on a sad note. We got enough sad notes in our everyday songs of life. Lord, that I might always be a light, beacon of hope, and a glass of cold water, and never another match on the ‘world is burning’ fire that roars around us.

Here. This is one of my most recent, favorite poems that I’ve written. I hope I did my favorite tree some justice.

The Legend Of Joshua Tree

where the sun

burns all day

like a relentlessly loving hug

you can’t escape from

where the hot springs gurgle

like fevered fountains

that cure human ailments

we can feel but not describe

where the mountains stand

in a jagged procession

piercing the perfectly clouded heavens

where the cactus thrive

where the yuc-ca plant grins

where the Joshua Trees

congregate in the thousands

dancing with their arms raised high

praising a universal magic

that we have not yet named

where the almost

waned and gone moon

hangs upside down

like the warm glowing smile

of an approving mother

where the wandering artists like me

have found roadside inns

for our wayward hearts

where the artists and the healers

come to learn how to play and pray

amongst ancient hallowed energy

where the first peoples

that have been called many names

first discovered the sacredness

many thousands of years ago

of this unforgiving desert land

and knew the worth of finding a way

to live in harmony with it

where the Spaniards landed nearby

and came to explore

renaming and claiming

this holy place as their own

where the Mexicans achieved independence

and branded the magic desert

with their own mixed influences

where the white man ranchers came

not to appreciate the beauty

but to mine her resources

and take from the bounty

of her rich purse

where the Mormons came

looking for a freedom

that we can all understand

even if it’s not our particular brand

and they renamed the blessed tree Joshua

after some biblical prophet

that supposedly won a war

by keeping his arms raised

about 3,000 years after

and half a world away

from this place

where the Pinto Peoples

first sat in peace

happy to be home

©️Dan Denton 2024

Peace be unto you my friends. May the smile of the Joshua Tree loom above us all today.

I appreciate you all being generous in supporting my writing, but today is my friend Michele McDannold’s birthday. She’s not only one of my favorite living poets, she’s also one of the best, good hearted humans I’ve ever known. She has a special book of poems out to celebrate her 50th. If you have a little extra this month, consider clicking the link and ordering a copy.

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