Caged rocks

Everything seems new in my new home, but some things in Arizona make me feel as if I’ve just landed from outer space.

I understand the beauty of gravel in all its color gradations, and the way it keeps down the dust and weeds in a yard. It only took one monsoon to explain the use of large stones in landscaping, as I watched their lines leading the flood into the street.  The caged rock posts and fences puzzled me for quite a while though.

Now I know they’re called gabions, and, once made of wicker, were used thousands of years ago for defense in war time. Today, as retaining walls, they dissipate the flow of floods.

What would happen if these warlike stones escaped their cages? Would they travel like tumbleweeds, leaving a path of destruction? Of course, they would gather no moss… I imagine them escaping at night, boosting each other over the top of the wire, rolling along shining under the moon and the streetlights, headed for a concert.