TALE OF THE NEW WEST

Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads--d'Verse 

Poets Pub

This is the New West
not the old
where women were hardy
and cowpokes were bold
and most didn't have to worry
about growing old

No iron horses
chugging along
belching innocuous steam
just row upon row
of  SUVs
backed up down the block
windows rolled tight
air conditioners humming
whene'er it reaches 70

No gunslingers
dueling in the middle
of a dusty street
just your nightly drive-by shooting
over in da hood

No cattle drives
'cross the lone prairie
but your ripped-off stereo
is being driven 
to the pawn shop across town
as we speak

This is the New West
not the old

The wide open spaces 
 filled in by  housing developments
springing up like weeds
for as far as the eye can see

A home
where no buffalo roam
just old folks
warehoused and tossed aside
stripped of their pride

Where Buffalo Bill
is popping some pills
Miss Kitty runs
and escort service
and Cool Hand Luke
is taking a puke
out back behind the titty bar

Where they don't hang horse thieves
anymore
and the car thieves are too fast
to get caught
now they're cooling their jets
in the Mexican sun
getting ready
to make another run

This is the New West
not the old

But those gritty pioneers
are still celebrated with the
Shootout At The O.K. Corral
and those stuntmen
they bounce right up again
after being shot
(over in the barrio
they just lie prone
as often as not)

Here
in the land of make believe
where a store bought hat
makes you a cowboy

Here
in the New West
same as the Old West
where you may never
have to worry
about growing old