I ... entered the poem of life, whose purpose is ... simply to witness the beauties of the world, to discover the many forms that love can take. (Barabara Blackman in 'Glass After Glass')

These poems are works in progress and may be updated without notice. Nevertheless copyright applies to all writings here and all photos (which are either my own or used with permission). Thank you for your comments. I read and appreciate them all, and reply here to specific points that seem to need it — or as I have the leisure. Otherwise I reciprocate by reading and commenting on your blog posts as much as possible.

26 July 2011

Texas Boots

We’ll have to get you
Texas boots and a cowboy hat,’
said my new publisher.
(He meant for me to pay.)
I cringed.
‘I don’t think so.’
(Maybe that, right then, was where
our relationship went wrong.)

When I got to Texas, I began to see
why I might want them,
falling quickly in love
with all of Texas
(except him, but it’s all right —
he wasn’t a native.
In mutual dislike by then,
we arranged never to meet.)

The day came when a friend
guessing my size, bestowed
a pair of Texas boots.
‘You can’t go home without them.’
With two extra pairs of socks
I made them almost fit.
(It was I who bought my own
white straw cowboy hat.)

Sometimes I wear those boots.
They look very dashing,
but they either slop or pinch.
I don’t know what became of the hat,
though I wore it home on the plane.
It looked peculiar here.
(By the same token, a dinkum Akubra
would have looked wrong there.)

But up in Lamesa, West Texas,
across from the festival venue,
there was a garage sale.
I found a pair of thick SWAT boots.
‘Try them on,’ said Thom,
so I did. A perfect fit!
When (rarely) it’s cold here, I put them on
and (fond, nostalgic) I remember Texas.

Inspired by a prompt at dVerse

6 comments:

  1. nice...its all about dining your own fit...have worn both of these and have to say the SWAT boots may be a bit more comfortable...

    OpenLinkNight (our large link up) is this afternoon at 3 pm EST at dVerse...

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  2. Many thanks. I'll try and find out how to relate that to Aussie time. (I might be in bed then!)

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  3. LOL If the shoe or the boot fits... LOL

    A nice write and a nice read, too.

    See you at the linkup later.

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  4. I missed this one last time... yes, love the meaning of the boots.

    Thanks for sharing this ~

    ReplyDelete

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