If poison ivy, sandspurs, and beggar-lice
Are really our snapdragons and four o’clocks,
And our navigational agenda will suffice
If we sail to regions of reefs and rocks,
If thunder is our imperative to dance
And we read, by lightning’s light, how nature’s rage
Invigorates imagination for romance,
If stupid, doltish neighbors must upstage
Reflection, and excruciating friction
Must enforce a hailstorm of distraction,
Sustaining intense but tenuous conviction
That plausibly denies calm satisfaction,
And if this noble plan has drawn our best,
Remember the old delights; forget the rest.
——
R. W. Haynes lives and writes in Laredo, Texas, where he teaches early British literature at Texas A&M International University. Many of his poems can be found online. He has just completed editing a collection of essays on the late playwright Horton Foote (Critical Essays: Horton Foote) which will appear from Salem Press shortly after Foote’s hundredth birthday in March, 2016.