Typewriter Rodeo: Texas Highways

Each week, the Standard reaches out to Austin’s Typewriter Rodeo for a custom poem on Texas topics.

By Laura RiceMay 13, 2016 9:45 am,

Everything’s bigger in Texas, including our highways. Summer is on its way and that means planning a road trip across one of these concrete titans. That was the inspiration for Typewriter Rodeo’s David Fruchter as he wrote this week’s poem.

Texas Highways 

start from the east,

and you’ll pass through

swampland and bog territory

cypress and pines

and lots of small towns

as you transition to slow,

rolling hills

studded with scrub growth

juniper and prickly pear

finally, the road

opens up before you

the sky grows into a glorious vault

over your head

mountains in the far distance

but you’ll drive all day

before they get any closer

endless flat plains

clusters of uniform white spires

atop a nearby mesa

as the wind farms whir away

in Texas, it’s easy to drive

far enough to lose yourself

over and over

and that’s half the discovery:

who will you be

at the end of this road…

Audio prepared by Laura Rice.