I am fueled by wanderlust. It has carried me to foreign lands and across North America, but also throughout my home state of Texas: 268,500 square miles, a landmass larger than any nation in the European Union. With its ten distinct ecoregions and a culture shaped by immigrants from more than 100 countries, Texas continues to surprise me. I never tire of exploring its landscapes, its history, and its many secrets.
This is the fifth poem in an upcoming book, Visions of the Lone Star State. I hope you enjoy it!
Corpus Christi
27.8006° N, 97.3964° W
The marina awakens beneath a pale blue sky,
sailboats testing their moorings.
Gulls drift above the piers, scanning the water
where light surfs the waves in silver shards.
Mustang Island is a brushstroke on the horizon.
At Mirador de la Flor, I pause beside Selena,
her bronze likeness gazing across the bay.
White roses and notes, lovingly laid at her feet,
bear witness to a voice that lingers,
carried by those who refuse to forget.
North Beach draws families to the State Aquarium,
while the USS Lexington rests at anchor nearby.
She once launched warplanes above the Pacific,
her hull throbbing with their thunder.
Now, visitors stroll beneath an untroubled sky.
From the flight deck, I watch massive tankers
pass slowly under the New Harbor Bridge.
Sunlight warms the steel beneath my feet,
and I imagine young sailors standing here,
unsure if they would ever see home again.
Inside the ship’s hangar bay, a plaque recalls the day
a kamikaze pilot struck the Lexington.
Fifty sailors died, yet the inscription declares,
“His mission was a success.”
I look across the sea and wonder who mourned him.
