show me

When I think of Missouri, I think of this: a pond scooped from a rolling green field to cup a swimming pool for cattle during the heat. Clouds in a blue sky. Chiggers. Meth. Hillbillies. Forests. Rivers.
   I do not think of Ferguson and fear.
   However, having just returned to New York, I find that Missouri has been tainted. Yes, the entire state. From the Show-Me State, it has become the Shoot-Me State.
   No one asks me now where it is. Only why on earth I would go there.