Texas

Texas sprawls. No other state can claim such varied nationalities, geographies, and cultural richness—a largesse of natural resources, cityscapes, and landscapes of every ecosystem.

With a unique, raucous, and rich history, Texas also abounds with some of the most diverse contemporary poets, many of whom consider themselves “Southern,” and the eighth volume of The Southern Poetry Anthology reflects this variegation with poems both traditional and experimental, Texas-centered and universal.

SOW

Chomping her chocolates
of fresh road kills, she swaggers
through her slop, oblivious

of the piglets she crushed
during last night’s slumber,
squishing through the splits

of her thick, cloven hooves.
The last boar which tried
to straddle her fabulous girth

fractured both forelegs.
She dined on his carcass
for days, grunting in the shade.

--Larry Thomas

WILLIAM WRIGHT, author of four books of poetry and series editor of The Southern Poetry Anthology, lives in Marietta, Georgia.

PAUL RUFFIN is the author or editor of over thirty books. He lives in Willis, Texas.

NICK LANTZ, author of three poetry collections, teaches poetry at Sam Houston State University and lives in Huntsville, Texas.