HIGH GROUND
Some of the country gets storms, hail, wind, and Floods, and others get one inch of rain. The haygrazer turns blue and wilts If there is no more rain than this but This year, she was told, Promises to be a wet one. But promises, like pie crusts, fall apart. The one thing she could […]
Read more "HIGH GROUND"WATERMARK
I want to go where the clouds are. I want to go over there. Over there beyond the ladder in shadow on the white wall. I want to be this autumn in the air you always speak of— this dreaded colored tree-leaf affair that clutters streets, the gutters gasping with children losing feet and ankles […]
Read more "WATERMARK"RAG
Around-and-around-and-around-and around Shuffling forwards back around To a tune played by fiddle, harp, guitar. To a tune that moves man towards woman And her towards him round-and-round Till they forget which way they’re going. Years can pass, doing the Rag, The music being so familiar, and the steps And the moves and the direction you […]
Read more "RAG"FROM THE DECK
I had forgotten Hibiscus Close at night. And that stairs, However steep, Eventually end. The trail of a fox, Cicadas, Towering trees. We could be in Nature, Without neighbors, If it weren’t for the sky— Pale, though night, Without stars Or any other sidereal notation. A black backdrop Saturated With man’s lights. Gray, oblique, Irreversible. […]
Read more "FROM THE DECK"BRIEFLY, IN LATE AFTERNOON
The quiet rapture of things in their place: they speak so suddenly at four o’clock. They speak with the perfection of things untouched. We took this to mean that things were done, as though we were snakes eased out of our skins. In a hush—in a sudden full round hush— nothing moves nothing moves, the […]
Read more "BRIEFLY, IN LATE AFTERNOON"SALT LICK
Stop here. Brangus circle the truck In slow cow motion, A new calf following. She lifts the block Out of the back, The cattle hoping more For hay. Put it over yonder Near the stock tank— Open ground Raw from poundage Of heavy hooves Where cows got after the molasses And the two-incher That came […]
Read more "SALT LICK"PASTURE
So tender the grass, She too Was fenced And cross-fenced, Once. Stock panel T-post And barb wire Protect A proud crop Of coastal. Or stop the cows from straying— A fence being something That can go either way. [from the book, Hill Country & Other Poems, recipient of WILLA Literary Award, Finalist for Poetry, […]
Read more "PASTURE"FROM BEHIND A CLOUD
The roof seems closer. As the flies are swept from the floor, more come through the door. More enter through the pegboard walls where flies are bred and born: November is warm. New flies buzz, dying flies buzz, the dead ones are upside-down on the hard, worn floor. She sweeps all day […]
Read more "FROM BEHIND A CLOUD"ALONG THE GULF
We lay together as though it was just yesterday: balloons rose on tropical fumes. Our balcony filled with orange balloons. We laid heavy in a sagging bed, a circular fan overhead, clicking. Sunday’s parade passed below our window. It was a day for love. It was a day for baths. Streetcars […]
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