♠ Poetry Sketches A to D ♠

Beware! this Ark-homa-land!

Beware! this Ark-homa-land!


Wander
amongst the blackjack and short needle pine.

Marvel
at the myrtle and zinnias in bloom.

Be careful
at the rock wall where scorpions may hide.

See
the ants and the wasps and the lizards.

Thank God
for the armadillos
(unless they burrow in your yard).

What is taken for granted by those born here,
notice

before you fall in love with this Ark-homa land
and leave your bones to bake here,
under fertile soil and rust brown rocks,

cleansed
of your mortal sins by thunderstorms,
your breath blown east with the wind.


Kåre Enga

catalogue number: [160.470]
23 juli 2003.

Note: Ark-homa = Arkansas + Oklahoma. My cousin can walk to Oklahoma (and Choctaw Nation) in 10 minutes from the small town of Bonanza south of Fort Smith.