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Tips for Surviving an Arizona Monsoon

by Jessica Jewell
 
                                    —Tombstone City Council, 1881
 
1.  Bobcats also wait out storms in caves.
 
2.  Learn the sound of a Cooper Hawk’s cry.
 
3.  When the wind picks up and the air cools, a storm is coming.
 
4.  Never stop in a rumbling arroyo or tent at the bottom of a hill.
 
5.  Unhook your horses before they buck free.  They’ll find their way back to you.
 
6.  When the horizon darkens, don’t ever take your eyes away from the sky.
 
7.  Bury your belt, gun, reins, tools, and your wife’s jewelry two feet into the clay.
 
8.  If your hair rises up on your scalp, lightning is about to strike you.
 
“Tips for Surviving an Arizona Monsoon” by Jessica Jewell, from Slap Leather. Dancing Girl Press, 2011. Used by permission of the author.

Jessica Jewell is the senior academic program director of Kent State University’s Wick Poetry Center as well as a PhD candidate in higher education. Her work has appeared in American Poetry Journal, Copper Nickel, Poetry Midwest, Rhino, Harpur Palate and Fjords Review, among others. Her chapbook, Slap Leather, was published by Dancing Girl Press.
 

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WRITE A POEM

Write 10 one- or two-line poems on one subject, however loosely related to the subject. Put them together, arranging and rearranging, and title them as one poem.

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