Texas

sunblock ‘n loose cotton,
plenty ‘f supplies – drive eight hours
‘thout leaving texas
(1-17)






water park culture –
hot again ‘n new braunfels, ‘n’ th’kid’s
thinking ‘bout houston
(11-17)







shakes th’coke bottle, throws
it and shoots it, likes t’hear th’pop –
june on th’trinity
(12-15)







silos ‘f wichita falls
stand alone – th’plants and th’people,
burned by th’prairie sun
(4-17)




west texas cotton
resistant t’heat ‘n’ drought like this –
fix’n t’change people too
(1-18)







june on th’trinity –
lives t’use th’gun on th’wildlife,
no reason not to
(1-17)






on th’ranch, th’fiddler learns,
willie’s like th’anthem – don’t take
lib’rties with th’music
(2-16)





hot ‘n’ dusty brownsville –
like th’clerk, he’s more than aware
it’s almost the fourth
(8-16)








it’s all p’litical,
says th’coach of th’youth baseball league –
all want t’be th’rangers
(7-17)








saw th’transmountain ghost –
now, in th’valley, he’s afraid
‘f th’highway mirages
(7-17)






shade ‘f th’pecan tree – hear
th’rooster, watch th’tejano kids
jostle for th’front seat
(5-16)






san’tone cloverleaf –
east to west, th’wide hot nation,
north t’south, bit more ‘n that
(9-16)







me ‘n’ th’mennonite,
alone ‘n th’seminole d q –
off th’hot ‘n’ endless roads
(9-16)









brownsville flophouse shade
dusty border town respite
reading "on the road"
(10-08)





camper ‘n south dallas –
‘ttacked by th’pack ‘f wild chihuahuas
not ‘fraid ‘f anything
(4-17)






prickly pear cactus –
midland lass, perfectly nice
‘less you try t’touch her
(9-16)









came through wich'ta falls -
summer of endless prairie,
an apparition
(9-14)







twinkling juarez lights,
olvidamos las dias
and turn up th’air con
(4-16)






big truck, ‘normous wheels –
‘f fort worth, out th’window, won’t care,
at least they’ll hear him
(8-17)






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)






near sierra blanca,
th’checkpoint – hat down ‘n th’morning sun,
this one’s for willie
(2-18)






rattlesnake fest’val –
even here th’jalapenos,
so eas’ly given
(1-18)








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)






-->

got th’pan de campo
‘n’ th’water – corpus christi man’s
seen some hurricanes
(9-17)






holed up, second floor –
all of houston’s feral cats
seem t’be floating by
(9-17)






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)






west ‘f amarillo,
th’sun sets on th’cadillac fins –
grasses’ve changed color
(8-17)






outskirts of dallas -
city nightlife's lure; in th' west,
autumn tornados
(8-10)







th’lasses wear th’big mums,
go t’dairy queen after th’big game,
‘n’ can’t stop their giggling
(1-18)









corner 'f flint 'n'nineteenth,
old baseball, season's ending-
nine hundredth haiku
(10-14)










fall, high ‘n th’guadalupes
woke up t’find a bear sleeping
‘gainst her, outside th’tent
(10-16)






all night, hunter's moon,
stiff west wind, high plains, then, at
dawn, amarillo
(11-13)







crude taunts, they rock th’jones –
at what point’s th’raucous party
an offensive foul?
(9-17)





-->
stuffing with gravy –
from th’great room, at th’back ‘f th’ranch, th’sounds
‘f th’cowboys’ goalline stand
(9-17)






cotton in th’roadside weeds –
outside plains, he realizes
how much he’s drifted
(11-15)








oil drilling money,
nowhere t’go –it’s halloween, ‘n’ he’s
fly’n through sweetwater
(5-15)







drillers ‘n sweetwater,
lots ‘f money t’burn – outside th’bar,
th’young trick or treater
(2-17)







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 guadalupe
(2-14)








child, sad and hungry,
eyes cookies on l'redo shrine
to th'angelitos
(10-14)







loves college football –
all of life comes t’saturday,
a place he calls th’jones
(2-17)




 
light snow ‘t th’grassy knoll –
all th’days seem th’same t’ th’hustler, stuck
‘n nineteen sixty three
(10-17)





turkey ‘n cerveza –
live ‘n both worlds, but look ‘t th’way they’ve
taken to th’cowboys
(10-17)







a deep-fried turkey,
parking lot family dinner -
cowboy stadium
(11-13)








ornament vendors –
laredo sisters’ secrets
are unknown to th’world
(9-16)









christmas ‘n laredo –
th’air’s fresh ‘n’ warm, but th’lass still cries
‘t th’shrine ‘f th’angelitos
(10-17)







guy owns th’oil comp’ny –
new year, ‘n’ th’wife wants’m t’stop fracking
b’neath th’plano mansion
(8-17)







-->

texas-shaped waffles –
new year sobriety checks ‘n nash,
‘n’ she needs more syrup
(1-18)








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)









austin red dirt band –
did just fine ‘n nashville, rather
be here all winter
(12-15)








cott'n in tumbleweed -
new t'plains winter, he brakes for
its rabbit-like jump
(1-13)






junction exit ramp –
mexico or th’frigid north?
th’gila looks for shade
(8-16)








ice on th’median –
‘round plainview, he realizes
how wide ‘n’ huge th’plains are
(12-15)









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 –
fin’ly, th’cool breeze by th’river
but there’s no room t’walk
(11-17)






riverwalk buskers’
blankets ‘n’ sweaters against th’night –
not really that cold
(5-15)








near amarillo,
caddy's fins praise th'winter sun -
old truck's engine dies
(1-07)








just off paisano –
huevos ‘n’ chorizos ‘n’ coffee
and th’cold wind from th’north
(4-18)









back roads near brownfield –
eighty ‘n th’blizzard, ‘n’ startled by
th’normous tumbleweed
(11-17)









eight ball in the side -
abilene cowboy's warning:
stay 'way f'my val'n'tine
(2-13)









somewhere ‘n hill country,
psychedelic valentines –
got th’mushrooms ‘n austin
(8-16)








knows th’javelina,
wild ‘n’ fierce, lives off th’baby sheep –
she’s killed a bunch ‘f ‘em
(4-17)







hard life ‘f drugs ‘n’ music –
rockers curse th’prickly cactus
blooming on th’guad’lupe
(5-15)







dust storm ‘n th’panhandle,
th’road is straight, but can’t see th’lines,
‘n’ still a ways t’plainview
(10-17)








west texas, th’cacti
bloom – he still hears th’song from th’boat,
b-b-benny ‘n’ th’jets
(8-16)






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)







‘cross houston on ten –
th’work world, th’traffic, th’refin’ries,
sun’s up, haiku day
(4-18)






base ‘f th’san jacinto –
th’schoolkids pose, april morning,
‘n’ th’hist’ry itself, gone
(2-18)





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)







port arthur plumber –
bluebonnets ‘n th’road to austin –
friend ‘f janis, he says
(6-16)









bluebonnets ‘n th’roadside –
she’d mentioned friends like th’plumber,
stuck, ‘n’ he’d had t’agree
(6-16)









van breaks down ‘n sealy –
it’s th’curse ‘f janis, says th’driver,
hiker’s back ‘n th’flowers
(1-17)




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)







long road t’laredo –
spring break he crosses th’border,
indulges with th’whores
(2-17)






goes with th'ABC,
hit lubbock this spring, had enough -
his dreams in a knot
(5-13)







red dirt bands ‘f austin –
booked ‘n’ rowdy, clear through april,
still can’t pay their rent
(11-17)






musicians ‘f austin,
fest’val jams all night – ‘round noon,
th’world’s hottest b’rrito
(2-17)





on twenty, near baird,
pretty flower, growing ‘n th’rocks –
mexican buckeye
(2-16)



-->

th’cartels have all th’drones,
says th’el paso gardener –
th’wall won’t hurt them ‘t all
(1-18)






mexican buckeye,
wild ‘n’ free, ‘n th’rocks on ten, shade from
th’fear ‘f jail forever
(2-17)


]



bluebonnets ‘n th’alley –
he’s parked his loaded pickup
on his texas pride
(11-17)






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)







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)








at least when she died,
says the kerrville camper, she was
going someplace good
(6-15)






kerrville campfire tales –
texas’s taken its toll, but
they came ‘nother year
(9-17)





truck with th’lone star flag
flies by – they seem t’grow cotton
from th’flimsiest ‘f soil
(6-17)





flags along quaker,
reasons they died, long lost to
corner news vendors
(5-13)






grassy knoll hustler,
peddling th’brochures ‘n th’june showers –
has his own theory
(7-16)







his hometown's called wink -
one june, followed sun west - 's friend
couldn't seem to leave
(5-13)


e pluribus haiku