In The Rut

[dukealien]

IN THE RUT

We looked in rose-colored mirrors and saw divining rods.
Now though, that glass gone grain,
I only see sand.

I see we are some dead river, the bed without water,
where coyotes sniff clay with no scent
and smoke trees pretend at smoldering.

We are where a desperate buck bends
in irreverent rut,
and nothing more, save a map for tumbleweeds.

I get a story of expected/expectant love gone dry, perhaps through routine (though this is not completely clear).

Images and word-art are arresting, particularly symbols and alliteration/assonance.

The divining rod (I see the old version, a limber Y-shaped stick) is a rich symbol.  To not only find underground water, but its shape suggests a sketch of the lower pelvis, front or back, gender indeterminate.  Key or foreshadow to the more overt sexuality in the third stanza.

Word-art is lovely - l.6, "smoke trees pretend at smoldering," and in l.5 as well.   This poem is a treat to read aloud.

Constructive criticism/suggestions:  In l.2, "glass gone grain" rolls on the tongue but I can't quite make sense of it.  Dismissing the idea of grain (cereal) leaves grain (wood) but still seems to require an adjective.  "[G]rainy" fits that sense but not the rhythm and seems to trivialize.  "[G]rained" fits the rhythm and sense there, and removes the reader's confusion in trying to make an adjective from a noun.

In l.4, "the bed without water" seems to break unnecessarily at "the."  Removing "the" preserves the sense to roll on into the next line, as well as placing "river" and "bed" next to each other, and the internal rhyme "dead" and "bed" closer as well.

In the last line, removing "save" doesn't seriously affect the sense ("save" for "except" is a little archaic, anyway) and regularizes the rhythm.  Though, perhaps, you don't mean it to be regular there.

Punctuation:  There should be commas after "Now" (l.2), and at the end of l.5 (to avoid the coyotes smoking trees).

Overall:  Good poem of frustration, disappointment, and desolation in love; tragedy of absent physical response.