Goodbye to Dallas
Ann Howells
Every good story begins
with someone either coming or going.
I’m going
past the gym where hamsters run on little wheels,
burger joint where a long line awaits
the drive-thru,
and the stadium where our local team gears up
for another losing season.
Coffee shop on every corner;
people staring at little blue screens. It’s progress.
Another glass building pops from the ground –
a humongous crystal
formed by developers’ heat and politicians’ pressure.
Traffic arteries harden –
driving is blood sport here – SUVs and big-rigs
roll over my reflection on the windshield.
The road spools out, red dotted line of taillights.
Traffic flows I-35 –
tip of South America all the way to Prudhoe Bay.
Green road signs give mileage
to Beaumont, El Paso, Amarillo.
I teeter on the edge of civilization – almost out of Texas.
About the Author
Ann Howells edited Illya’s Honey for eighteen years. Her recent books are: So Long As We Speak Their Names (Kelsay Books, 2019) and Painting the Pinwheel Sky (Assure Press, 2020). Chapbooks include: Black Crow in Flight, Editor’s Choice in Main Street Rag’s 2007 competition, and Softly Beating Wings, William D. Barney Chapbook Competition winner (Blackbead Books, 2017). Ann’s work appears in small press and university publications, including Plainsongs, I-70 Review, and San Pedro River Review.