Ronnie McGinn's Poetry Page
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Have you been to Arizona ? It is a State I would love to visit but until such time it is hard to comment or pass judgment on what it's like to live there. One can only assume that its history reflects the power, the triumph, the struggle for justice and the mundane reality of humane nature as much as anywhere else.
In this week's poem Thomas Clancy, of Leixlip Co. Kildare, challenges the conservative ideology that abounds in our political world.
Arizona
Arizona a Nation with a turbulent past
Gateway to the States from the teaming South
A passport to life and freedom at last
Nation of contradictions; that no one cares about
English speaking orders to a Spanish workforce
Living in poverty and existence, thread bare
Who don't affiliate or regard it as home
Physically in Arizona, mentally elsewhere
This social upheaval happened before
When Native Americans were stripped of their wealth
Replaced by white settlers with ruthless force
It's happening again, by emigrant stealth
The land of the free can scarcely be found
When one sees the land and the homes of the Braves
Democracy in name and not on the ground
A nation of battlefields and unmarked graves
Here laws are enforced with an iron fist
A people indoctrinated in just right and wrong
No leeway allowed for the old grey mist
It's this blind allegiance that make her so strong
Route 66 old highway to the west
Replaced by 1/40 more haste, more loads
Commerce races through this state, not stopping to rest
Industry don't live here just uses her roads
The climate's ideal, the, scenery breathtaking
With rivers and mountains and Canyons abound
But without popular allegiance this nation will weaken
Deep thoughts in their hearts' but mouths make no sound
The nation of immigrants and Navajo confined
Will one day waken from their Silent sleep?
And take this great land and declare it their own
Entrusting Arizona to their, children, this time to keep
© Thomas Clancy
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