The Lost Poems of Catullus
The lost poems of Catullus turned up again
In northwest Laredo, Rancho Viejo Drive,
And there they were, all aglow with sin
And burning intelligence. They were fiercely alive
And resonant with bemused electricity,
And they lit up that dusty desert place
With the desperation of futility,
The bitter grace of eloquence in disgrace.
Think a squall of warm Mediterranean rain
Washing these prickly pears and mesquites,
Moistening them inwardly with Roman disdain,
Empowering the graduation it completes
With flowers this hot land finally bears
In a sea of stubborn thorns, where no one cares.
Ted Bundy Addresses the Executive Council
I wasn’t there that morning, but I heard that Ted
Was all collegial smiles, put his leather briefcase
On the table, looked around kindly, and said
Something about the heat, and with a smiling face
Quoted Paul on charity, Cicero on friends,
And warmly expressed his deep admiration
For the good work done here and the message it sends
To the taxpayers of Texas and of the nation.
He said he already felt very welcome there
At the big table and looked forward with pleasure to
Contributing new ideas as needed anywhere
And doing anything they needed him to do.
What a coup! What a human resources dream!
And what an addition to the management team!
The Moments We Recall
When time is not a storm of emergencies
But just a storm, even a storm on the sun,
Circulating where the gentle mind sees
Incalculable force as imagination,
Then let that storm follow its heart
To its destination, no tranquility
As urgent as consideration of the art
Of heartfelt perception understanding sympathy.
We’re there somewhere. Those old hurricanes
And tornadoes and the records they broke
Whirled away their damage, and what remains
Still touches us more than the words we spoke--
At least that’s true in the moments we recall
When an aesthetic harmony enshrouds them all.
R. W. Haynes, Professor of English at Texas A&M International University, recently published a critical study of playwright Horton Foote. This book, titled The Major Plays of Horton Foote: The Trip to Bountiful, the Young Man from Atlanta, and the Orphans' Home Cycle, is the first literary analysis of Foote published since the playwright's death. Haynes often publishes poetry in journals which are more or less tolerant of more or less formal verse.