![](https://members.tripod.com/gifs123/page23/wolfbelt.jpg)
Born again in Arizona
If I were to be born
again in Arizona
perhaps I'd come as a hawk
red tailed, pale breasted, sharp eyed
high over flat mesas and Hopi
sacred dancing Kachinas -
snow on peaks guarding distance.
![](https://members.tripod.com/gifs123/page23/pipeln.gif)
Or as a horned toad, four legged,
her spikes hardly showing
against dry fallen needles
in evergreen pine forest
high on the Mingus Mountain.
![](https://members.tripod.com/gifs123/page23/twbar.gif)
Or maybe as hummingbird
darting in four directions
deep in the canyons by Tucson
his feathers flashing brightly,
her tiny eggs safely hatching.
A rattlesnake perhaps
among shafts of old goldmines
far into Superstitions
where trails carry no hikers
and no beer bottles shine broken
![](https://members.tripod.com/gifs123/page14/snakebar.gif)
None of them has to dodge
snowbirds from Minnesota
transplants from California
crowding all streets and highways
in their vans and their Lincolns
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They do not weep each morning
over mountains, hills, deserts
covered with creeping cancer
of big development houses:
more new pavement, more sewers.
![](https://members.tripod.com/gifs123/page23/nativeline.gif)
They do not swing their car keys
on a chain as a weapon
crossing a dark street swiftly
listening for the footsteps
of a mugger or rapist.
![](https://members.tripod.com/gifs123/page23/featherline3.gif)
And they don't miss their exits
scared to change lanes too quickly:
driver of the red Bronco
may get very offended
and shoot up small white Sentra.
![](http://members. tripod.com/gifs123/page23/twbar.gif)
Maybe I better never
get born again in Arizona.
![](https://members.tripod.com/gifs123/page23/nativebar.gif)
Izabel Sonia Ganz
December 1997
A Letter to Hawk
The Crone's Poetry Pages