04/20/2003

By TOM MAYO / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

When confronted with the words "Texas poetry anthology," a reader might (with some justification) think: 1) large and sprawling, 2) as diverse as the state's many ethnicities and epochs and 3) lots of cowboys ropin' little dogies. In the case of Texas in Poetry 2, two out of three isn't just good, it's terrific.

Editor Billy Bob Hill first brought out Texas in Poetry in 1994, and the volume immediately took its rightful place as the definitive collection of poems by Texans or about Texas from 1836 to the present. Mr. Hill's modest claim for the original – "a readable, entertaining mix of poems" – holds as true for the new, expanded volume as for the first edition. Even more than its predecessor, however, TIP2 provides an insightful snapshot of the current state of Texas poetry without losing its splendid historical sweep.

Mr. Hill accomplishes this by increasing the poetry pages by nearly 50 percent to more than 470 pages. Combined with an increase in page size, heavier paper stock, attractive end papers and the addition of an author/title index, this is a physically impressive volume from the TCU Press. The only obvious cutbacks in the new edition come at the end in the biographical notes on the authors. Although it is easy enough to obtain information about the more well-known national authors, the loss of useful information about more regional poets is lamentable in a book that otherwise appears to have spared no effort or expense.

This is a minor quibble, however, about a book that is an immensely pleasurable read. Many old favorites are still here, together with such new arrivals as Houston's Ed Hirsch, San Antonio's Bryce Milligan (but not, unfortunately, his daughter, Brigid, whose "6 a.m. Tortilla Lessons" may some day be an anthology favorite), Ai, William Allen Ward, Sarah Cortez and a few dozen more. Not all the "new" poets are modern writers. For example, Mr. Hill's inclusion of a 1937 poem by Lillian Wright (a long-time Dallas resident by way of Childress), "West Texas Suicide," shows an admirable willingness not only to update the collection but also to rethink it. The absence of Stella Johnston and Bruce Bond, to name only two, from TIP2 shows that anthologists can't please all the people all the time.

Perhaps the greatest obstacle a book like this one has to overcome is the uninformed judgment that "Texas poetry" is at best an oxymoron and at worst a deceptive trade practice. In her poem, "Texas Poetry," Violette Newton writes of folks "up East" who "do not think much/of Texas poetry. They think Texans/have no soul for aesthetics." Her answer is a roadside sign outside of Austin that advertises "Bert's Dirts":

. . . I swell with pride
at that rhyming sign, I puff up
and point to that terse little title
and wish we could stop
so I could go in
and purchase
a spondee of sand
to make a gesture of my support
for poetry in Texas

There are many voices in Texas poetry, and many memorable lines in Texas in Poetry 2. If the test of a great anthology is its capacity not only to instruct but also to surprise and delight, this volume passes with flying colors.

Tom Mayo teaches "Law, Literature & Medicine" at the Southern Methodist University law school and at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas.

Texas in Poetry 2
Billy Bob Hill, editor
(TCU Press, $40)