ST. XAVIER’S ACADEMY
The nun’s wooden ruler
so big and white
against my scrawny brown hands
when my mind was
enjoying the sleepy sky
a free breeze ferried
by boat-shaped clouds
outside the school window
And the paddle
we got from Father Pinto
for not sitting still
was so giant
that it could have steered
that boat in the sky
He had weary eyes
All the brown bottoms
he must have had to look at
smiling smugly up at him
DON’T MESS WITH TEXAS
You shoulder
these two red bars,
head slumped.
Your future
plundered
vilified
because a
pale
seed
has
germinated
wild
in the lone-star’s property
a week
too many
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