Texas in Poetry 2

by HILL BILLY BOB (ED)

• ISBN13: 9780875652672
• ISBN10: 0875652670
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-10-01
• Publisher: Texas A & M Univ Pr

Summary

Texas in Poetry can be read straight through as a commentary on life in the Lone Star State. Or it can be read a poem or author at a time. But if read straight through from "I'll Take Texas" to "No Quittin' Sense" the whole Texas experience as seen by more than a hundred poets cannot fail to make an impact on the reader.

Editor Billy Bob Hill includes such poets as Mirabeau B. Lamar, a Texas president and poetaster from the days of the Republic; Berta Harte Nance, author of the centennial poem that begins "Other states were carved or born/But Texas grew from hide and horn"--lines that furnished at least one book title and occasioned a number of parodies. And, of course, one poem about Texas that is magnificent in its awfulness, "Laska, " with memorable lines like "Scratches don't count/In Texas down by the Rio Grande."

But most of the poems in this large, handsome volume are much superior to the representative early poems included. All the well-known poets in the state are included -- riters like Walter McDonald, Betsy Colquitt, and Vassar Miller -- as well

Table of Contents

Foreword	xxxvii
James Ward Lee
Acknowledgments	xli
Billy Bob Hill
Introduction	xliii
A. C. Greene
1 I'll Take Texas
Homing Instinct	2	(1)
Mary Vanek
We Go Away at Home	3	(1)
Jack Myers
Beautiful Texas	4	(1)
W. Lee O'Daniel
Long Gone to Texas	4	(1)
William D. Barney
Texas	5	(1)
William Allen Ward
Texas	6	(2)
Caley O'Dwyer
Texas Memoranda	8	(1)
Lexie Dean Robertson
Some Nights I Love Everybody in Texas	9	(1)
Del Marie Rogers
State Song	10	(1)
Berta Hart Nance
A True Texan	10	(2)
Peggy Zuleika Lynch
Stilts and Other Vehicles	12	(2)
Richard Sale
2 Faces of Blood Kindred
Family	14	(3)
Ai
This River Here	17	(3)
Carmen Tafolla
Bloodlines	20	(2)
Mary Loving Blanchard
Going Back to Ireland	22	(1)
Violette Newton
Katakalos	23	(4)
Rosemary Catacalos
My Grandfather's Hammer	27	(1)
Charles Behlen
Oppa	28	(1)
Jim Linebarger
Present Moments	29	(2)
Njoki McElroy
Frontier Mystery	31	(1)
Berta Hart Nance
Benjamin	31	(1)
Benjamin Alire Saenz
Four Roses	32	(1)
Susan Wood
Aunt Gilly	33	(2)
Lexie Dean Robertson
Aunt May	35	(1)
Robert A. Fink
Uncle Fenster's Grave	36	(2)
Roger Jones
Mi Tia Sofia	38	(2)
Carmen Tafolla
Female Cousins at Thanksgiving	40	(1)
Paul Ruffin
Reunion	41	(3)
Sarah Cortez
The Little Brother Poem	44	(1)
Naomi Shihab Nye
I Remember	45	(1)
Fay M. Yauger
Texas Boomer	46	(1)
Joseph Colin Murphey
Dove Hunting Each Labor Day	47	(2)
James Hoggard
Father	49	(1)
Harryette Mullen
Honor Card	50	(2)
Betsy Feagan Colquitt
Fragile soy	52	(2)
Teresa Palomo Acosta
Momma Sayings	54	(4)
Harryette Mullen
3 Texas: A World in Itself
The Old Oak Speaks	58	(1)
Margaret Bell Houston
Pecans	59	(1)
Paul Foreman
Prairie Friend	60	(1)
Maude E. Cole
Mesquite	61	(1)
Robert A. Fink
Azaleas and Dogwoods	62	(1)
Cyd Adams
Texas Cowboy	63	(1)
Karle Wilson Baker
Girls of the Rodeo	64	(1)
Margie B. Boswell
Re-stringing 100 Year Old Wire	64	(1)
Joseph Colin Murphey
The Cowboys' Christmas Ball	65	(3)
Lawrence Chittenden
Death Rode a Pinto Pony	68	(1)
Whitney Montgomery
The Little Towns of Texas	69	(1)
Clyde Walton Hill
Farm-to-Market #4	70	(1)
Richard Sale
The Endurance of Poth, Texas	71	(1)
Naomi Shihab Nye
Poetry and Post, Texas	72	(1)
Betsy Feagan Colquitt
The Atmosphere for Poetry in Abilene	73	(2)
Robert A. Fink
Texas Poetry	75	(1)
Violette Newton
The Experts	76	(1)
Jack Myers
The Poet Gets Drowsy on the Road	77	(1)
Frederick Turner
Customs of the Country	77	(2)
Del Marie Rogers
``Drive Friendly''	79	(1)
Robert Phillips
Sunset Along U. S. Highway 90 Between Langtry and Sanderson	80	(1)
David C. Yates
Texas Autumn	81	(1)
Grace Noll Crowell
The Good Life	81	(2)
Bobby Byrd
November	83	(1)
James Hoggard
A Mythology of Snow	83	(2)
Violette Newton
Bienvenido Poem for Sophie	85	(1)
Sandra Cisneros
trusting steel	86	(1)
Bryce Milligan
Two Ice Storms	87	(2)
Charles Behlen
Winter at the Intersection	89	(1)
Chris Willerton
Overnight Winter: Texas	90	(1)
William Virgil Davis
Ennui	90	(2)
Lawrence Chittenden
Celebration	92	(1)
Gene Shuford
Late Winter in West Texas	93	(1)
Robert Burlingame
Early Warning	94	(1)
Frederick Turner
Spring in Palo Duro Canyon	95	(1)
Jerry Craven
Summer Begins Outside Dalhart, Texas	96	(1)
Mary Vanek
Summer Nights in Texas	96	(1)
Grace Noll Crowell
Summer Nights	97	(1)
Paul Christensen
Riding the Currents	98	(1)
Susan Bright
The Storm Cellar	99	(1)
Paul Ruffin
After the Random Tornado	100	(1)
Walter McDonald
Mr. Watts and the Whirlwind	101	(1)
William D. Barney
Drought: Sure Signs in Merkle, Texas	102	(1)
Robert A. Fink
Impressionist	103	(1)
Paul Foreman
Heat	103	(1)
Carol Cullar
110 Degrees in Dallas	104	(1)
Frederick Turner
Good-bye Summer	105	(5)
Jas. Mardis
4 Blessing the Animals
Oil Field Road off Clyte Escarpment	110	(1)
James Hoggard
To the Rattlesnake	111	(1)
Vaida Stewart Montgomery
Rattlesnake Roundup	112	(1)
Pat Stodghill
Hawks in a Bitter Blizzard	113	(1)
Walter McDonald
A Hawk Over Inwood Road	114	(1)
A. C. Greene
A Rufous-Crowned Sparrow Seen Loitering below Possum Kingdom Dam	115	(1)
William D. Barney
After Bird Watching near the Mexican Border	115	(1)
Robert Burlingame
Vanitas	116	(1)
J. Frank Dobie
Mr. Bloomer's Birds	117	(1)
William D. Barney
Great Blue Heron	118	(1)
Del Marie Rogers
Whooping Crane	119	(1)
James Cody
Banding near the South Texas Coast, Late April	120	(1)
Chip Dameron
Water Birds	120	(2)
Cynthia Harper
A Mocking-bird	122	(1)
Boyce House
Duet	122	(2)
Betsy Feagan Colquitt
Armadillo	124	(1)
Martin S. Shockley
In Fields of Buffalo	124	(1)
Walter McDonald
Living Life as a Living Target	125	(2)
Roxy Gordon
Coyote	127	(1)
Jim Linebarger
The Horse in My Yard	128	(2)
Gene Shuford
Big Bend: Lion Warning	130	(1)
Jan Epton Seale
Cattle	131	(1)
Berta Hart Nance
Wind and Hardscrabble	132	(1)
Walter McDonald
Thinking About Cows at Ten O'Clock in the Morning, Abilene	133	(1)
Naomi Shihab Nye
Funeral	134	(1)
Vaida Stewart Montgomery
Burying	134	(1)
Paul Ruffin
The Last Longhorn's Farewell	135	(2)
John P. Sjolander
Washing the Cow's Skull	137	(3)
David C. Yates
5 This Stubborn Soil
The Way of Words	140	(1)
Martha Elizabeth
Starting a Pasture	141	(1)
Walter McDonald
Walking Past the Dugout of Felix McKittrick	142	(1)
Robert Burlingame
Van Horn	143	(1)
Steven Tye Culbert
The Prison, San Elizario, Texas	144	(1)
Ray Gonzalez
Desert, Not Wasteland	145	(1)
Robert Burlingame
Travel Note	146	(1)
Albert Huffstickler
Paso del Norte	146	(1)
Ray Gonzalez
Dawn in El Paso	147	(1)
Carol Coffee Reposa
from Desert Symphony	147	(1)
Cherie Foreman Spencer
Things You Can't Do in Albuquerque or Santa Fe, #11	148	(1)
Bobby Byrd
The Head of Pancho Villa	149	(1)
Ray Gonzalez
crossing the river to juarez	150	(2)
Pat LittleDog
Attempt to Locate	152	(1)
Sarah Cortez
The Way Animals Are	153	(2)
Leslie Ullman
The Angels of Juarez, Mexico	155	(2)
Ray Gonzalez
``I Wouldn't Even Bleed''	157	(2)
Benjamin Alire Saenz
Alpine, Texas	159	(1)
Thomas Whitbread
South Rim: Big Bend National Park	160	(1)
Arthur M. Sampley
Chalk Draw Ranch	161	(1)
Sherry Craven
Three Poems	162	(1)
Robert James Waller
Century Plant	163	(1)
David C. Yates
Near the Rio Grande	164	(1)
Del Marie Rogers
Rio Grande Hills (A Pioneer Speaks)	165	(1)
Berta Hart Nance
Changing Borders	166	(1)
Robert Bonazzi
Makes Them Wild	166	(1)
Susan Bright
West Texas	167	(1)
Bettye Hammer Givens
Windy Day/Slayton, Texas	168	(1)
Charles Behlen
Site of the Indian Fights of 1871, Abilene	169	(1)
Naomi Shihab Nye
Sex	169	(1)
David C. Yates
1-35, South of Waco	170	(1)
William Virgil Davis
Brazos de Dios	170	(2)
Paul Foreman
Losing a Boat on the Brazos	172	(1)
Walter McDonald
Anniversary Trip	173	(1)
James Hoggard
The Red Raging Waters	174	(1)
Larry D. Thomas
On Lookout: Guadalupe River Ranch	175	(1)
William Virgil Davis
Lake Austin Diorama	176	(1)
Joseph Colin Murphey
from Some Towns of Texas	177	(1)
Karle Wilson Baker
renting	178	(1)
Chuck Taylor
South, Southwest	179	(1)
William Burford
October 31, 1981	180	(1)
Albert Huffstickler
Winterdirge	181	(1)
Chuck Taylor
San Antonio	182	(1)
Carmen Tafolla
Alamo Plaza at Night	183	(1)
Carol Coffee Reposa
San Antonio Nights	184	(1)
Bryce Milligan
Black Lace Bra Kind of Woman	185	(1)
Sandra Cisneros
Aqui	186	(1)
Carmen Tafolla
A Poem of Adulthood	187	(1)
Stephen Harrigan
The Lost Parrot	188	(2)
Naomi Shihab Nye
Alli Por La Calle San Luis	190	(1)
Carmen Tafolla
Dia de Los Muertos	190	(1)
Cynthia Harper
Subtropical	191	(1)
Jan Epton Seale
Song for a Baby on Padre Island	192	(1)
Mayme Evans
Galveston	193	(1)
Isabel Nathaniel
Whomp and Moonshiver	194	(1)
Thomas Whitbread
The Coast of Texas	195	(1)
Isabel Nathaniel
Reverse Engineering	196	(1)
Rob Johnson
Driving Toward Houston	197	(1)
Paul Christensen
Houston's Adolescence	198	(2)
Robert Bonazzi
Houston Haiku	200	(1)
Robert Phillips
Sunset on the Bayou	200	(1)
Sybil Estess
Downtown Boom	201	(1)
Lorenzo Thomas
from Houston: An Ode	202	(1)
Paul Christensen
A Reflection on the Paintings of Mark Rothko's Chapel	202	(1)
Eric Muirhead
Liquid City	203	(7)
Lorenzo Thomas
Houston Heights	210	(1)
Janet Lowery
Interlude	211	(1)
Sarah Cortez
Whitewash of Houston	212	(2)
Vassar Miller
Closing Time	214	(1)
Eric Muirhead
Beauty is Elsewhere	215	(1)
Boyce House
A Nightclub on the Jacksboro Highway	216	(1)
Robert Trammell
Dallas	217	(2)
Dave Oliphant
State Fair	219	(1)
David Russell
Texas Eclogues	220	(2)
Frederick Turner
The Gift	222	(1)
Jack Myers
Historia	223	(3)
Brian Clements
Light Forms	226	(1)
Robert Trammell
Perseverance	226	(2)
Jas. Mardis
What It Comes Down To	228	(2)
Tim Seibles
Denton	230	(2)
Dave Oliphant
On the Porch---Denton, Texas	232	(1)
Martha Elizabeth
After Hours	233	(1)
Robert Trammell
Tolly Masters	234	(1)
Brenda Black White
Nacogdoches Speaks	235	(1)
Karle Wilson Baker
Strata	236	(1)
Roger Jones
Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose	237	(1)
Susan Wood
River Road	238	(1)
Cyd Adams
Coons in the Corn	239	(1)
Alice Ewing Vail
How the Big Thicket Got Smaller	240	(1)
Jerry Bradley
Big Thicket Words	241	(3)
James Cody
6 Love is a Wild Assault
Carmelita	244	(2)
Mirabeau B. Lamar
For a Texas Beauty	246	(1)
Jerry Bradley
Lasca	246	(4)
Frank Desprez
I Dreamt of Lasca	250	(1)
Jack E. Murphy
love letter sent south	251	(2)
Pat LittleDog
Memorabilia	253	(1)
Lexie Dean Robertson
All the Old Songs	253	(1)
Walter McDonald
Garden City Diner: Loving Back	254	(1)
Sherry Craven
County Fair	255	(3)
Fay M. Yauger
Country Boy, City Girl	258	(1)
Brenda Black White
Mistletoe Kills	259	(1)
Charlotte Renk
West Texas Suicide	260	(1)
Lillian Wright
I Am on My Way to Oklahoma to Bury the Man I Nearly Left My Husband For	261	(1)
Sandra Cisneros
Penny Ballad of Elvious Ricks	262	(2)
R. G. Vliet
Planter's Charm	264	(4)
Fay M. Yauger
7 Tales of Old-Time Texas
Mastodon Teeth	268	(1)
Sybil Estess
12,000 Years Is Not Too Long	269	(1)
Carol Cullar
The Caddo Mounds	269	(1)
Violette Newton
Papalote Creek	270	(2)
Stephen Harrigan
Over Texas Hills	272	(1)
Maude E. Cole
The Weepers	273	(1)
Isabel Nathaniel
Coronado at Rio Grande Del Norte	274	(1)
Arthur M. Sampley
Cornado Points	274	(2)
Alan Birkelbach
Mission San Jose	276	(1)
Carmen Tafolla
Portrait of a Pirate	277	(2)
Stanley E. Babb
Copano, 1834	279	(1)
Bryce Milligan
Texian Call to Arms	280	(1)
Sam Houston
from The Alamo: An Epic	281	(2)
Michael Lind
The Witness, Susanna Dickinson	283	(1)
Violette Newton
Antonio Lopez and Emily	284	(1)
James Gregory Smith
San Jacinto	284	(2)
Mirabeau B. Lamar
Mirabeau B. Lamar	286	(1)
A. L. Crouch
The Plea of Texas	287	(1)
Mary Austin Holley
To My Husband---December 1844	288	(1)
Margaret Lea Houston
For Maximino Palomo	289	(1)
Teresa Palomo Acosta
Traitor	290	(1)
Pat Stodghill
Kaiser's Burnout	291	(3)
Betty Adcock
Whiskey-Bomb Battle	294	(1)
Mayme Evans
Texas Trails	295	(2)
Norman H. Crowell
Homesteaders	297	(1)
Rosemary Catacalos
Old Fort Phantom Hill	298	(2)
Lawrence Chittenden
Old Fort Griffin	300	(1)
Berta Hart Nance
At Fort Clark	301	(1)
Carol Coffee Reposa
The Old Mackenzie Trail	302	(1)
Lawrence Chittenden
Moonlight	303	(1)
Berta Hart Nance
White Settlement	304	(3)
William Wenthe
The Heart of Texas	307	(1)
James Cody
Battle of Adobe Walls	307	(2)
Chris Willerton
Cattle Brands	309	(1)
Vaida Stewart Montgomery
Sam Bass	310	(1)
Gene Shuford
Hoodoo Scott Cooley Scalps John Wohrle	311	(1)
Steven Tye Culbert
The Sigh of the Old Cattleman	312	(1)
Jas. D. Thorn
The Last Running	313	(1)
Jerry Craven
The Judge	314	(2)
Claire Ottenstein Ross
Hill Country Rest Home	316	(1)
Carol Coffee Reposa
On a Weekend in September	317	(1)
Vassar Miller
The Great Storm	318	(1)
Larry D. Thomas
Photo of a Rotary Crew, Sour Lake Oilfield, 1904	319	(1)
Roger Jones
The Alcohol Question	320	(1)
Thomas Whitbread
Evening Star	321	(1)
Edward Hirsch
To General Pershing	322	(1)
Hilton Ross Greer
The Seventh Seal	322	(3)
W. E Bard
Galveston	325	(1)
Stanley E. Babb
Pioneer: The Vignette of an Oil-Field	326	(1)
Lexie Dean Robertson
Wide-Eyed	327	(2)
William D. Barney
Oil Well Fire	329	(1)
Grace Ross
Justice in Old Ranger	329	(2)
Boyce House
Poem to Ma Ferguson	331	(2)
Chuck Taylor
Hempstead, 1923	333	(2)
Carol Coffee Reposa
A Ballad for Bill Pickett	335	(2)
William D. Barney
Outlaws	337	(2)
Whitney Montgomery
The Story of Bonnie and Clyde	339	(2)
Bonnie Parker
Huddie Ledbetter	341	(2)
Paul Foreman
Black Sunday, April 14, 1935	343	(1)
Naomi Stroud Simmons
A Prayer for Texas	344	(1)
Grace Noll Crowell
Randolph Field, 1938	345	(2)
R. S. Gwynn
Ballad of a Bombardier from Texas	347	(2)
Goldie Capers Smith
At the Movies	349	(3)
David Westheimer
8 Things about to Disappear
For Erwin Smith, Cowboy Photographer	352	(2)
Larry McMurtry
Eugene Wukasch, Texas Architect	354	(1)
Dave Oliphant
cowgirl	355	(2)
Pat LittleDog
The Eighth Army at the Chongchon	357	(1)
Rest Due and Taken	358	(1)
Vale	358	(2)
Rolando Hinojosa
The Certified Public Accountant Recalls the Early 1950s	360	(1)
Robert A. Fink
Photograph of the Courthouse Square, 1950s	361	(1)
Betty Adcock
Longview, Texas	362	(2)
Cyd Adams
November 25, 1963	364	(1)
Thomas Whitbread
The Visit	364	(1)
Gene Shuford
The Spell	365	(1)
William Burford
Marina's Daughters, 1964	366	(1)
Rebecca Spears
August 1, 1966	367	(2)
Pat Stodghill
Waiting Wife	369	(1)
Marcella Siegel
At Our Backs	370	(1)
Robert A. Fink
The Death of Janis Joplin	371	(1)
Robert Phillips
Johnson City, Texas	372	(1)
Albert Huffstickler
Texas: Sesquicentennial	373	(3)
William Virgil Davis
9 I'm Going to Leave Old Texas Now
Farewell to Texas	376	(2)
Anna Word Spragins
Moving God	378	(2)
Pattiann Rogers
Song from the Traffic	380	(1)
Margaret Bell Houston
Lonesome Texas	381	(2)
Bettye Hammer Givens
Abilene, TX: We Pull Out For New England	383	(3)
Robert A. Fink
10 A Personal Country
In the General Area of North Texas	386	(1)
Scott Cairns
West Texas Mid-Century	386	(1)
Roxy Gordon
East Texas Blues	387	(3)
Mary Loving Blanchard
South Texas Boxcar Blues	390	(1)
Chip Dameron
Delayed Love Poem to Odem, Texas	390	(1)
Richard Sale
Minnie Henderson	391	(1)
Colleen Beeson
At the Very Last Battle	392	(1)
Carmen Tafolla
The Serving of Water	392	(2)
Tino Villanueva
Apparition (ca. 1896)	394	(2)
Museum Piece (ca. Now)	396	(1)
Teresa Palomo Acosta
Chicana	397	(1)
Edward H. Garcia
Between Worlds	398	(4)
Benjamin Alire Saenz
Travel North: The Rules	402	(2)
Jan Epton Seale
La Casa	404	(1)
Rosemary Catacalos
Roberto Meets Cabeza de Vaca in the Desert	405	(1)
Ray Gonzalez
Day-Long Day	406	(1)
Tino Villanueva
Picking Cotton	407	(1)
Mary Loving Blanchard
Hollow	408	(3)
Susan Wood
Requiem for James Byrd, Jr.	411	(1)
H. Palmer Hall
Eye of the Tornado	411	(2)
James Hoggard
Swallow Wings	413	(1)
Rosemary Catacalos
Viejas Locas	414	(1)
Harryette Mullen
Texas Splendor	415	(2)
Janet Lowery
from Street Scenes: Houston	417	(1)
Sunshine Dickinson Ryman
The Kilgore Rangerette Whose Life Was Ruined	417	(3)
Cynthia Macdonald
Street Flower in Big D	420	(1)
Frances Neidhardt
Letter to a Brother in Exile	421	(1)
Rosemary Catacalos
Pantoum	422	(2)
Edyth Renshaw
And Cause His Countenance to Shine Upon You	424	(1)
Cynthia Macdonald
in austin reigns a bald-headed queen	425	(1)
Pat LittleDog
At Rose's Range	426	(1)
R. S. Gwynn
Afternoon in Austin	427	(1)
Betsy Berry
Dangereux avril	428	(2)
Teresa Palomo Acosta
from Beaumont: Class Reunion	430	(1)
Dave Oliphant
The Ranch on the Limpia	431	(1)
Dorys Crow Grover
Triangulation	432	(1)
Daryl E. Jones
Our Speaker This Morning	433	(2)
Chris Willerton
What the Citizens of Corpus, Rockport, Palacios, or Bryan Need	435	(1)
Paul Christensen
Pete's Poem	436	(1)
Cyd Adams
After the Rains of Saigon	437	(1)
Walter McDonald
Ghost Lights	438	(1)
H. Palmer Hall
Campsite	438	(1)
Chris Willerton
The Flying Dutchman	439	(2)
Walter McDonald
On Karma at 9.11.85	441	(1)
Bobby Byrd
the man in the VA hospital	442	(2)
Betsy Feagan Colquitt
In the Compound	444	(1)
Albert Huffstickler
Heave Me a Mountain, Lord! (Prayer from the Plainview Rest Home)	445	(1)
Jack E. Murphy
Past Perm and Glitz	446	(1)
Charlotte Renk
Omens	447	(1)
Cyd Adams
Midsummer Farewell	448	(1)
Jerry Craven
The Passing of the Old Man	449	(2)
Albert Huffstickler
To a Late Local Environmentalist	451	(1)
Jan Epton Seale
from Clem Maverick	452	(1)
R. G. Vliet
The First Birthday After Death	453	(1)
Joseph Colin Murphey
Elegy at Mustang Island	454	(3)
Isabel Nathaniel
Beautiful in Death	457	(1)
Martha E. Whitten
For the Drowned	458	(1)
Nick Norwood
A Death on Village Creek	459	(2)
H. Palmer Hall
he's crossed the river	461	(3)
Carol Cullar
11 No Quittin' Sense
Going On	464	(1)
Daryl E. Jones
Widow Zebach	465	(1)
Charles Behlen
Las Girlfriends	466	(2)
Sandra Cisneros
Rock Pickers	468	(1)
Cyd Adams
our texas economy	469	(2)
Chuck Taylor
Pecos Bill in Decline	471	(2)
Stephen Harrigan
About the Poets	473	(12)
Credits	485	(7)
Index	492