A Sample Of My State Poem by Biff McGuire

From the rotten smell of brine shrimp
To the salt encrusted mud
Ghost riders of the Pony Express
On oil slicks of cricket blood

You love it and you hate it
And you really don’t know why
Staring at the flats’ mirages
Rising up from ground to sky

Coyote’s evil laughter
Jackrabbits squeal of pain
Eagles dropping from the sky
On lizards, just like rain

Snapdragon, Mullen, cacti there
To satisfy the artists rush
Noble pinion, juniper
All fuel for the painters brush

Granite peaks and mesas mix
With canyons filled in artifacts
Mule deer, moose and wapiti
All circled back with cougar tracks

In places where you might not rank
So high in natures food chain
Invigorating morning air
Redeems our faith in God again

Slot canyons, arches, walls of stone
Rocky pillar castles high
Like pieces of a chessboard
From a gamesman in the sky

Magnificence or wasteland
How we see things makes them
What they are
The beauty of a beetle or the brilliance of a star