Typewriter Rodeo: Marfa Lights

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

By Kari Anne RoyMay 12, 2017 9:30 am,

Visitors to far West Texas usually make a point to visit Big Bend, the McDonald Observatory and to try to catch a glimpse of the mysterious Marfa Lights. Those unexplained lights were the inspiration for this week’s poem from the Typewriter Rodeo.

Marfa Lights

you look in the distance

in the black of the night

expectations

high

your gaze

higher

and you wait

staring

wondering

are they real?

can it be true?

an electrical force?

otherworldly messages?

a portal to an alien world?

and then

blink!

blink!

the white orbs appear

glowing on the horizon

and maybe it’s a farmer with a flashlight

maybe it’s a lost hipster hunting

Donald Judd

or maybe

just maybe

it’s none of the above

 

Produced by Laura Rice.