texas

brownsville flophouse shade

dusty border town respite

reading "on the road"

(10-08)
 

came through wich'ta falls -

summer of endless prairie,

an apparition

(9-14)

summers ‘t th’water parks,

finally got th’job ‘t th’good one, ‘n he’s

moving t’new braunfels

(5-15)

across from juarez

monsoon water in river -

most o' year it's dry

(3-10)

ruins of tokio -

what's left of post office, shade

for mouse and hiker

(8-13)

a town they call post -

steps echo in its silence

and its august sun

(9-08)

labor day coffee

hundred-year sun finds pecos -

taste of chicory

(9-12)

across a broad lake,

six lanes west to grand prairie -

window stays open

(8-12)

ten houston commute,

mosquito fries on windshield-

he never saw maine

(9-05)

landed in inchon,

survived a bitter war - but

hates texas summers

(9-05)

raised in port arthur,

held her like a tight swimsuit -

made her want to scream

(9-05)

juarez kids watch trucks

westbound out of el paso

hot sand, deep river

(8-05)

flower girl sings blues

but dusty pal is native

san antonian

(7-05)

in the alamo

history peeks from behind

racks of sunglasses

(7-05)

back roads to airport -

sun, dust, west texas summer,

highway cuts through bliss

(7-08)

outskirts of dallas -

city nightlife's lure; in th' west,

autumn tornados

(8-10)

corner 'f flint 'n'nineteenth,

old baseball, season's ending-

nine hundredth haiku

(10-14)

all night, hunter's moon,

stiff west wind, high plains, then, at

dawn, amarillo

(11-13)

oil drilling money,

nowhere t’go –it’s halloween, ‘n’ he’s 
fly’n through sweetwater

blouse caught on barbed wire -

it's cooled off toward livable,

b't her mind's on dallas

(1-13)

almost home, monarch!

let's rest, celebrate the breeze

on the guadaloupe

(2-14)

child, sad and hungry,

eyes cookies on l'redo shrine

to th'angelitos

(10-14)

a deep-fried turkey,

parking lot family dinner -

cowboy stadium

(11-13)

loop lifts at quaker,

geese call and circle their find -

unfrozen water

(1-13)

bag o' 'spresso beans -

plane circles over frigid

fields, lubbock recedes

(1-13)

cott'n in tumbleweed -

new t'plains winter, he brakes for

its rabbit-like jump

(1-13)

from bitter plains chill,

scrub bush his only shelter -

yellow house canyon

(1-13)

ten, ribbon wrapping

the west texas high country -

gift that needs a tree

(8-05)

 
el paso denny's -

juevos, 'n' new years' toast, to the

safe side 'v the river

(1-14) 




short cut back t’dimmitt -
wife gave birth ‘n th’panhandle storm, 
drifts, canyon t’naz’reth
(5-15)




riverwalk buskers’

blankets ‘n’ sweaters against th’night –

not really that cold

(5-15)

near amarillo 
caddy's fins praise winter sun -

old truck's engine dies

(1-07)

eight ball in the side -

abilene cowboy's warning:

stay 'way f'my val'n'tine

(2-13)

hard life ‘f drugs ‘n’ music –

rockers curse th’prickly cactus

blooming on th’guad’loupe

(5-15)

it's spring - grassy knoll,

its conspiracy theories

reawakening

(11-13)

huge ranch outside post –

easter dinner, ‘njoying th’view,

sky turns, and it pours

(5-15) 

easter, san antone –

they’ve run out th’homeless, ‘n’ made it

a crime to feed them

(6-15)

wildflowers appear -

san marcos, one stop of hike,

boston to peru

(3-10)

it's twisted, she says -

tornado hit th'n.t.s.

outside, a spring squall

(5-13)

they put texas down,

but never saw this field of

blooming bluebonnets

(4-10)




hard rains – west texas

wildflow’rs ‘re happy, but cotton

planters are anxious  
(5-15)

migra's got th'dogs out -

guy takes blooming cactus tour

up toward guadaloupes

(1-14)

roadside bluebonnets

open morning, austin-bound

possibilities

(9-08)

trav'lin' th'ABC,

hit lubbock this spring, had enough -

his dreams in a knot

(5-13)

bob wills festival –

town ‘f turkey tries to contain

th’panhandle’s urge t’drink

(5-15)

kerrville campfire jam -

tune and tale from each corner,

soft glow of embers

(3-10)

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kerrville campfire tale,

roads were wet, ‘n’ she went off one –

wet wood crackles ‘n’ th’fire

(6-15)

 

wanted th’kerrville hugs

so badly that time, she came

and left th’car running

(5-15)

 

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at least when she died,

says the kerrville camper, she was

going someplace good

(6-15)

flags along quaker,

reasons they died, long lost to

corner news vendors

(5-13)

his hometown's called wink -

one june, followed sun west - 's friends

couldn't seem to leave

(5-13)