What if John Wayne
"Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway” John Wayne
What if John Wayne
had been in the Macy’s
Thanksgiving Day Parade
slapping the reins on
a huge stagecoach float
surrounded by Sioux
Indians riding stick horses
and waving pictures of
George Armstrong Custer.
What if John Wayne
didn’t die at the Alamo
but instead went after
the Mexican drug lords
his Winchester blasting
away piles of heroin
cocaine and amphetamines
the bad guys fleeing
Juarez, Nogales and Tijuana
like so many cucarachas.
What if John Wayne
had made a movie
with Clint Eastwood
The Dukeand
The Man With No Name
their faces grim
riding side by side
into some corrupt
company town
the “bought” sheriff
laughing at the newcomers
until he draws first and
is turned into swiss cheese.
What if John Wayne
were still tracking
some barely clad
female pop icon
kidnapped
for continually foisting
lousy vocals and a miserable
life style on a suspecting
public, the girl finally freed
when John threatens to blare
singing cowboy songs into
the captors’ hidden lair.
What if John Wayne
could now take America
on his broad shoulders
and carry us across
rivers and prairies to
that sacred place where
honesty and respect
are a given and
the sky at sunrise
is streaked
with possibility.