The dirt was all that moved there: it was the only thing that changed. It was dust filtering through bent screens, a brown light, grainy— drifting and staying, soft as a hot blessing. It was packed hard, roads of rouge, cracked ruddy old. Rain bullet-holed it, turning the worn paths upside down spilling blood-heavy into […]
Read more "SATURDAY NIGHT"The grainy meowing yowl of fated fighting cats on a wet gray day— it makes the clouds curl, the whole sky sour and curdle. This is the desert’s December. This and St. Augustine, newly gold in paint, blessing the parking lot (just like a saint). It’s just like a saint to care […]
Read more "EVERYTHING FLEW BUT THE FINCH"I need no more time To divine These dull seasons. Reasons Are unreasonable excuses To me. Seems like Traveling time Has arrived: I found a five In my Old coat pocket. The door? I’ll lock it. The garden can go To seed; The seeds Can remain beads In their […]
Read more "CLOUDLESS"This is nowhere near, no— This is nothing like the place Where flowers spill… Or people, Like ourselves, Might take chances. This is a long way off From days That need water so desperately; From the beautiful women With their knotted hair Burnt black by centuries. Their ears were looped with gold. […]
Read more "BENEATH THE SHATTERING SUN"Fortunata Fortunata In rainwater daylight— Dolphins drilling the sea, He came from the cannery With shrimp like severed fingers Bluish-black, gangrene. He brought them in a pot, All daylight in a wash— The shrimp a mound of shrimp, The streets not streets at all But muddy paths of rock That led nowhere, […]
Read more "CAMINO DE LOS LEONES (Road of the Lions)"Everlasting For a few weeks Bluebonnets stand erect, torching The breeze that reminds her There is a gulf. Far from it, The Llano carries itself Past bluff and granite. He stood awhile, watching her Watch the nutra As it swam up river. A witness Of another kind Filtered through the mesquite, […]
Read more "COME SPRING"One. Won. Two. To. Too. Four. For. Fore. Eight. Ate. Be. Bee. We. Wee. Flee. Flea. Pee. Pea. See. Sea. Key. Quay. Isle. Aisle. Rain. Reign. Rot. Wrought. Muse. Mews. Peel. Peal. Peek. Peak. Leek. Leak. Chic. Sheik. Week. Weak. Him. Hymn. (So far so good.) So. Sew. Sow. Sack. Sac. Sink. Sync. Cod. […]
Read more "ODE (OWED) TO THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE"When the roar of distant shore Ceases to please this pale frame The will of Life will have bore Down, erasing one lettered name. What is is stripped away to the core And, at once, is what once came. As the tide widens its shore Nothing remains the same. No niche of […]
Read more "SCRAPING THE HULL"Terraced but forgotten, Stones in a row After row after row. He looked one way. She looked the other. Bringing it back will Take some doing, he said. “Just like anything Neglected For too long.” But he Did not hear. (from Hill Country & Other Poems)
Read more "FIELD"I. The storm tears ‘round And the wind bears down On the rooted things. What is rooted will cling To the deep-set stratum. What is new will bring No strength from its planting. The new will cower under stormy stratus As rain beats into dying grasses. Storm! Tear ‘round! Whip the morning-glory! Near to the […]
Read more "LEARNING TO STAY IN ONE PLACE"