IN THE DESERT

A gallery of distinctive Saharan wildlife, paired with short poems and nature notes.

“The addax / is xeric / and also / the oryx. / It means / they live / in the desert, / of couryx.” Elliott’s latest set of nature verses, as pithy and playful as ever, offer observations on creatures from quick-stepping Saharan silver ants to a soaring Nubian vulture. Closing factual notes expand on them in a similar vein: Anubis baboons communicate “by smacking their lips, sticking out their tongues, grinding their teeth, and even yawning. Why not try some of that at the dinner table tonight? If anyone objects, simply explain that you are speaking baboon.” Said baboons may cluster around a water hole in the illustrations, and the Nile crocodile in an even wetter locale, but for the most part, the landscapes in which Wright poses his animal cast are evocatively sandy, rocky, and decorated with at-best sparse wisps of vegetation. Still, despite the vulture’s message “that everything / must have its end,” readers will come away with a stronger impression that the desert, empty as it may look at first glance, is really rich in living things.

Refreshing reminders that there is bustling life even in hostile environments.