The Texas Poet

Clinton soundly beat Obama in a large state again last night. The “rub” that is unfolding is not a good one. As the race continues, the options facing the Democrats get dicey. May 6 holds the two of the last of the major scheduled primaries. It is likely that Obama… Continue

This photo pretty much speaks for itself. Progress is great. Money is great, but when the dunes go up for sale, you have to wonder. These strips of land down at the north end of Padre are so narrow, not much can be built on them. But, here's the sign. It is just a… Continue

I went back to the RGV this past weekend to attend the wedding of one of my nephews. It was the first time all 9 of my brothers and sisters (the one remaining sister who is mentally impaired excluded unfortunately) have been in the same place in decades -- perh… Continue

Did you know that Brownsville even has a Wikipedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownsville,_Texas. It reflects the population of Brownsville, according to the latest census as 172,437. Can you imagine that. Little ol' Brownsville is HUGE. To put it in perspective, Here is a list of the populations of the capitals of the 50 US States: States (A to Z) Description Alabama Montgomery - 200,983 Alaska Juneau - 31,118 Arizona Phoenix - 1,418,041 Arkansas Little Rock - 184,081 California Sa… Continue

Back home again. Since I work in Galveston and visited Padre while down there, I literally went back to the Island from the Island. I am sometimes struck by the similarities of Galveston and Brownsville. Both went years basking in a sense of isolation and separateness. In Brownsville, we were hundreds of miles from the rest of the world and we rightfully considered ourselves at the true heart of the world. Galveston has the same notions with the old timers here. They even go so far as to have w… Continue

More visits to family. One of my nephews owns the Icehouse on 511. Cool place. You see a lot of ice houses in East Texas but they always give a rough honky tonk appearance. The Icehouse is really a family venue during the day, and probably has some fun at night with pool tables, karoake and the like. A billion neon signs -- just what a icehouse should have. Except, they keep the walls closed due to the heat an humidity. Traditional icehouses are really like garages with garage doors on three sid… Continue

down to visit my mother, who's 89 now and living in Harlingen. Used to be easy to visit the familia -- they all lived in Brownsville. Now they have scattered quite a bit, many still in the RGV, but the majority now elsewhere. That fire is giving my sinuses fits. I fell for the people in Willacy and Hidalgo having to evacuate. I hope the wind dies down and they can contain it. I was told years ago by a fire fighter that they do not "put out" those kind of fires. There is no real way to do it. It… Continue

I have seen the one in Washington (Arlington really) and the one in Harlingen, and I have to say it is an amazing piece of work. After recently watching the movie Flags of Our Fathers the whole story is so pardoxical and ironic. Such inspiration from both fact a… Continue

sighted mind struggles to eat the food of light burning into the lens of the eye what is there to see but old images of old men sitting at tables chess pieces fallen as they wait for the weather to turn what is there to see but children mocking children in sharp words harsh words words of pain words of anger words learned from their parents what is there to see but the rusting of old seams of lives held… Continue

here is the dawn of dreams when the dogs wake to the stretch of light reddening lazily in swelling clouds this is the empty lane waiting for the oil dust cars to stir their rubber feet and prod into the painted asphalt stretching beyond view here is the dawn of dreams the bank of America cash card dreams the playstation, xbox and HDTV dreams the dreams of pools and chrome steel BBQs dreams worth the dried… Continue