A Response to *What's the Matter with Kansas?*

What’s the Matter with Kansas?

1

In the movie,

half a mega-church

follows its preacher

to Wild West World,

investing savings

in theme park ministry.

Bankrupted, swindled

they remain loyal,

listening,

to tirades

against baby killers

in a Best Western lobby.

2

A hawk flees crows

in Lawrence, Kansas.

Flying low over a museum,

it almost drops its prey,

a black fledgling

scrapes the ground.

Silenced by warning caws,

outnumbered by resolve,

the hawk veers out of sight,

its hunger unsatisfied.

3

In the museum,

Custer’s horse Comanche stands

a stuffed reminder of Little Big Horn,

where Sitting Bull’s warriors

defended their Holy Hills,

crows fighting hawks for gold.