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Texas, Being: A State of Poems
Texas, A State of Poems collects forty-five poems from a beautiful and brutal state. Some are about the music of their languages. Some speak to the dead, some to the sun, and others to omissions of history. One concerns a hedgehog cactus, and another a roller rink. From “Happy, Texas” to “Palestine, TX,” from seashores to skeletons to Selena, all are in one way or another about Texas, but good poems are always about more than one thing.
Selected by Texas poet Jenny Browne, these poems draw a picture of one of America’s vastly sublime yet most audaciously independent corners. In these diverse voices, the state is a lovely and painful contradiction of space and meaning. Texas is a place “where blind catfish cruise” and wild asters grow. It’s a frame of mind where Jenny Boully writes “the history is unending” and Mexican American studies professor Christopher Carmona can “feel the slowness of time.” Jorge Luis Borges wrote of it as “an endless plain / Where a man’s cry dies a lonely death.” Victoria Chang writes that “there is so / much sky that even birds / get lost."
Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson describes her hometown as a “fiercely loving city tougher on the outside / but smooth as pecan shells,” and Naomi Shihab Nye reminds us to “be patient, sure there’s lots of bad around, / but more room for good too, with all this empty.” Whether it is Joshua Edwards imagining his photographer father or Primo Feliciano Marín’s declaration “Hail Texas, fraught with charms unknown,” these voices, past and present, give us a glimpse into the poetic soul of the nation’s most willful state.
Poets include Robert A. Ayres, Curtis Bauer, Jan Beatty, Layla Benitez-James, Jorge Luis Borges, Jenny Boully, Catherine Bowman, Susan Briante, Bobby Byrd, Christopher Carmona, Aline B. Carter, Rosemary Catacalos, Victoria Chang, Hayan Charara, Joshua Edwards, Tarfia Faizullah, Carrie Fountain, Vievee Francis, Mag Gabbert, Miriam Bird Greenberg, Lucy Griffith, Aaron Hand, Fady Joudah, Jim LaVilla-Havelin, Emma Lazarus, J. Estanislao Lopez, Primo Feliciano Marín, Pablo Miguel Martínez, Walter McDonald, Jasminne Mendez, Townsend Miller, Ange Mlinko, Naomi Shihab Nye, Shin Yu Pai, Cecily Parks, Emmy Pérez, Octavio Quintanilla, Iliana Rocha, Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson, ire’ne lara silva, Jeff Sirkin, Margo Tamez, Lao Yang, Loretta Diane Walker, Emily Winakur, and Matthew Zapruder.
Selected by Texas poet Jenny Browne, these poems draw a picture of one of America’s vastly sublime yet most audaciously independent corners. In these diverse voices, the state is a lovely and painful contradiction of space and meaning. Texas is a place “where blind catfish cruise” and wild asters grow. It’s a frame of mind where Jenny Boully writes “the history is unending” and Mexican American studies professor Christopher Carmona can “feel the slowness of time.” Jorge Luis Borges wrote of it as “an endless plain / Where a man’s cry dies a lonely death.” Victoria Chang writes that “there is so / much sky that even birds / get lost."
Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson describes her hometown as a “fiercely loving city tougher on the outside / but smooth as pecan shells,” and Naomi Shihab Nye reminds us to “be patient, sure there’s lots of bad around, / but more room for good too, with all this empty.” Whether it is Joshua Edwards imagining his photographer father or Primo Feliciano Marín’s declaration “Hail Texas, fraught with charms unknown,” these voices, past and present, give us a glimpse into the poetic soul of the nation’s most willful state.
Poets include Robert A. Ayres, Curtis Bauer, Jan Beatty, Layla Benitez-James, Jorge Luis Borges, Jenny Boully, Catherine Bowman, Susan Briante, Bobby Byrd, Christopher Carmona, Aline B. Carter, Rosemary Catacalos, Victoria Chang, Hayan Charara, Joshua Edwards, Tarfia Faizullah, Carrie Fountain, Vievee Francis, Mag Gabbert, Miriam Bird Greenberg, Lucy Griffith, Aaron Hand, Fady Joudah, Jim LaVilla-Havelin, Emma Lazarus, J. Estanislao Lopez, Primo Feliciano Marín, Pablo Miguel Martínez, Walter McDonald, Jasminne Mendez, Townsend Miller, Ange Mlinko, Naomi Shihab Nye, Shin Yu Pai, Cecily Parks, Emmy Pérez, Octavio Quintanilla, Iliana Rocha, Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson, ire’ne lara silva, Jeff Sirkin, Margo Tamez, Lao Yang, Loretta Diane Walker, Emily Winakur, and Matthew Zapruder.
- GenresPoetry
96 pages, Hardcover
Published April 2, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 19, 2025
i think Uvalde by Emily Winaker would’ve been a better choice as the last poem, but in other words this was a great collection of poems a lot of variety
July 2, 2024
A really great anthology! Being from, and living in Texas, there was so much to appreciate. Highly recommend!
May 5, 2024
I picked this book up a few weeks ago, the day it came out at Nowhere Bookshop in my hometown of San Antonio when we were visiting from Austin. "More than Forty-Five peoms from a beautiful and brutal state." made me purchase it. Being a fifth generation Texan on my Dad's side, I have always had a complicated relationship with my home state. It is as much a part of me as I am of it, but it is always a rollercoaster ride. I try to get out, but something always brings me back. These poems don't pull any punches and do exemplify the contrasting and idiosyncratic nature of this large state. Texas definitely is a "state of mind" but where in Texas?
Poems that I especially liked were: Heart, Something About Texas, Marfa, Texas; The Symbolic Life, Ode to Skateland Texas, Still Life with Summer Sausage, a Blade, and No Blood; Lonestar, In the Texas Summer Heat, A Letter from Texas, [The Gulf doesn't miss us], Rosary Beads, To the South, At Our Disposal, and Uvalde.
Poems that I especially liked were: Heart, Something About Texas, Marfa, Texas; The Symbolic Life, Ode to Skateland Texas, Still Life with Summer Sausage, a Blade, and No Blood; Lonestar, In the Texas Summer Heat, A Letter from Texas, [The Gulf doesn't miss us], Rosary Beads, To the South, At Our Disposal, and Uvalde.
July 15, 2024
A book of poetry made by a collective of poets attempting to capture aspects of the essence of The Lone Star State. If there are poetry lovers and/or die hard Texans in your life, this might be one to gift them.
August 23, 2024
Collection of many beautiful poems that captured my heart.
Unfortunately, many didn't hit right for me. That's okay! Not everything is made for me, but it might be made for you.
If you like poetry and want to experience Texas through the lens of poets, give it a shot!
Unfortunately, many didn't hit right for me. That's okay! Not everything is made for me, but it might be made for you.
If you like poetry and want to experience Texas through the lens of poets, give it a shot!
January 15, 2024
A bittersweet ode to Texas, because we can never have too many of those
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews