Beetlebung and Kettlehole--April Poems

In Arizona

I refuse to use a knife
in Arizona
in case, I point it
by mistake
to a prickly cactus
with long thorns
and sharp jabs
under the demented sun.

As I’m clumsy
and imperfect
and blur reality,
I may veer off
to illegality
and cut down a cactus
of green innocence.

And the cops in
the City of Surprise
would hop to read my rights
in minutes of reckoning
with iron bars beckoning,
That is why, in Arizona,
I may hold on to a gun
but refuse to use
a knife.

Note: It’s illegal to cut down a cactus in Arizona, and the City of Surprise: Police Department does exist.
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Prompt: Something illegal