Some Arizona Poetry

This is part of a book I wrote called
An Arizona State of Mind: Poems of Moving to and Living in the Grand Canyon State:

Yes, There is an Arizona:

With apologies to singer Jamie O’Neil,

Yes, there is an Arizona,

Yes, there is Sedona,

But no magnolia.

Not a put on,

But there is Tucson.

Maybe not a puma,

But definitely a Yuma.

And who would want to abandon the Grand Canyon?

So yes there is an Arizona,

And as much as I like your song Jamie, Arizona is my home.

Moving to Arizona:

Things were tough in the Eastern lands.

My friends had come and said come join us.

My family thought me mad,

Said things aren’t that bad,

That you would leave your kith and kin.

I am sorry Mom and Dad,

But things really are that bad.

If I may be so bold, the northland is cold,

And my chances improve with this drastic a move.

Like the pioneers of old,

A white vehicle a horseless wagon,

Riding across the great nation,

To a new promised land,

Called Arizona.

Tombstone:

Ed Schefflein was told, this place will bear your Tombstone.

It has grown the Tombstone of many an unfortunate victim, from the desert floor.

The shootout at the O.K. Corral reenacted daily.

Show is at 2 P.M. folks, see what happened in fifteen seconds on that fateful day.

The Birdcage Theater, where Big Nose Kate roamed.

Now, but for the tourists, the town would be aptly named,

For the Desert would act as the tomb.