The Paddock Review

San Antonio 

…

Beth and I walked the River Walk

In San Antonio 

Hand in hand, sweet stroll

Beside the rainbow umbrellas, 

A pride of San Antonio. 

….

I forget where we ate, but

We enjoyed the Tex-Mex food,

And watched the waters 

Ripple on the way to the Gulf. 

….

(That was ten years ago, thereabouts. 

It would be fun to go back. 

Someday we will travel more in Mexico.

It’s still on our to-do-before-death list.  

In 1989 Beth and I stepped farther

Into the Sonoran region 

….

Into Heroica Nogales: the vendors, 

Shops on Morley Avenue, 

Pasaje Morelos, 

Paroquia La Purisima Concepción, 

The brightness of the serape blankets.

….

Two barista friends just got back

From Mexico and had a great time!)

….

I showed Beth how 1836 

Decorates all the Texas souvenirs:

The year of independence,

Not of statehood, which

Was an additional stage… 

….

Old Tejas was so attractive 

For Anglo colonists,

Who made the lucrative markets. 

…

Who’d have thought today

(Though they permitted it at first

With Austin’s Old Three Hundred), 

That Mexico would be desperate

To keep Americans from 

Crossing into Mexico 

….

By the thousands—

Americans struggling in their lives

From economic downtowns, 

High land prices, a chance to begin again

With the courage of success or failure.  

….

J.Q. Adams, Jackson

Failed to get Mexico to sell

Texas to the U.S., the bloodshed

That might have been avoided

(An American viewpoint)

Had a deal been made—

….

Had Santa Anna kept out of it, 

Had slaves never been brought

to Virginia in the first place,

Successions of what ifs. 

….

We toured the Alamo, 

Smaller than expected,

As many folks say,  

And heard again the stories 

Of Texas valor, American destiny.  

….

This poem is from the book Holy Week, 1847 by Paul Stroble (Finishing Line Press), and can be found at https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/holy-week-1847-by-paul-stroble/