Defined by flatness, Perhaps just something To get over, She stepped Singularly Past whitethorn And prickly pear Unaware Of an unobstructed View. [from the book, Hill Country & Other Poems, recipient of WILLA Literary Award, Finalist for Poetry, from Women Writing the West]
Read more "HILL"From down south and all around Where horehound thickens around the corral And bluestem weathers the rocky soil Cattle are driven through Stock Pen Crossing, There where the San Saba calls itself a river, And those who are tired wait under the pecans. Bring me summa that Son-of-a-Bitch-Stew! One of them might yell, being one […]
Read more "COW CAMP COOK"Fall, rain and fill the gauge Enough to count an inch or two While she prays for other things. The broccoli can’t keep its leaves With chicken hens stripping them, And the radishes just turned to bush. Might as well pull them up. Once things go, they’re gone. Get out the grubbing hoe and work […]
Read more "FALL RAIN"Brangus and Black Baldies move among the pear, Their mouths whiskered with stickers, red Fruit coming on the tips of the tasajillo. In the garden, fall corn begins to tousle and silk. The laying hens had to go. No good if they don’t lay. It’s simple, she said. Put one foot on their legs, the […]
Read more "COLD FRONT"Traveling the same one Keeps it clear. Until a storm hits. He never noticed that Bad spot before. That’s when things got muddy, he Remembered her saying. And now There’s no getting through. [from the book, Hill Country & Other Poems, recipient of WILLA Literary Award, Finalist for Poetry, from Women Writing the West]
Read more "ROAD"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"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"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"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"