Best Relocation Poems
submitted into "Premier VII Open Poetry Contest," Rob Carmack, Sponsor
ARRIVING AT EL PASO © Sara Etgen-Baker 2025
Some 20+ years ago, hubby and I took up roots, moving across the entire state of Texas for the hope of a better future. This poem attempts to capture my initial thoughts upon our arrival. (Yes, our future was better.)
The road, a ribbon of asphalt, unfurls beneath my tires,
each mile a memory, each turn a question—
what does it mean to arrive?
The sun dips low, casting long shadows over the desert,
here the horizon bleeds into the sky—
a canvas of ochre and rose.
The Franklin mountains rise like sentinels.
I wonder what pilgrims have crossed these rugged trails,
what hearts have beat against the same blazing sun.
The air is thick with dust and promise,
the scent of sunbaked earth
mingling with the faintest trace of rain.
Dust dances in the twilight,
and I am caught in the rhythm of it all,
the pulse of this border town.
El Paso, where the Rio Grande river flows,
a silver ribbon dividing yet uniting
two cultures, two languages, two countries.
I stand here in the embrace of El Paso,
feeling the weight of possibility and
the quiet promise of tomorrow.
Twilight descends, stars emerge~
tiny pinpricks of light
against the deepening blue.
I am a traveler in a world,
one that feels both foreign
and achingly familiar.
The weight of arrival settles on my shoulders—
not just a place, but a moment,
a step into the warmth of a new beginning.
Alas, I am a sojourner, a seeker of stories
finding my way in this city of
bridges, border crossings, and arrivals.
Moved everything here to be with you,
What more did you want me to do,
Let my job go so I could be in your world,
Then my settled life became unfurled,
These eyes watch you turn my world to an end,
These arms long to hold you again,
But hurtin’s on me yeah, so what can I say,
You’re a rich girl and you’ve gone too far
cuz you know it don’t matter anyway.
Oh I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain,
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end,
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend,
But I always thought that i’d see you again.
Should I stay or should I go...
American woman get away from me,
American woman mama let me be,
Don’t come hanging around my door,
Don’t want to see your face no more,
Coloured lights can hypnotize
Sparkle someone else’s eyes
So country road take me home, to the place where I belong,
Back to my homeland, all alone, singing my own song.
Written September 28, 2011
Includes the following songs;
These Eyes
Rich Girl
Fire and Rain
Should I Stay or Should I Go
American Woman
Country road
Written for Contest"Sing a Song for Me"
Won 2nd Place
Saw a man at a snowy bus stop
Tall and lean
Black as black can be
Probably in his Sunday best
This Monday morning.
My guess Sudanese.
Here on compassionate grounds
Home country ripped apart
Tribal and religious strife.
What might he have seen Lord?
What atrocities and robbery?
What loved ones abandoned?
With no other apparent choice?
Does he have English
Can he handle this
Awful Waterloo cold
This awful Western smugness
To the new and misunderstood?
Help him Father
If it is a search
In faltering words
For a job
For some needed training
For a place to bed down.
In Jesus’ name.
And I drive by
These careful words and images
My only coins
In the stranger’s cup.
Until perhaps next time…
We’ve moved
my wife and I from home
to the last place
we’ll ever live and she
wants to know why
I’m sitting around
not helping to unpack.
So I tell her the problem
which is her problem too
but she keeps unpacking.
I’m not at home, I tell her,
but I’m not here either.
Not to worry, I say.
I’ll let both of us in
when we arrive.
Donal Mahoney
People flocked round badly hurt Paul,
Ten minutes ago had a fall
While he was playing rough football...
And they had to a doctor call,
Then with chess players in a hall,
Loved more than the card's near a mall
"No! His treatment not in this hall,
For not being ethical at all...
Some First Aid and then my clinic...
At least, it'll save me one cynic!"
And you with a dislocation:
Get ready for relocation.