Poem: Eugene “Gene” Novogrodsky’s “Writer Stares”

“Why are you staring, no emotion?”

I think.

I want to write about:

Thick beet green leaves.

Baseball-size avocados falling to dry ground,

She bending to gather them.

The blood red and buttery white sunsets over northern Tamaulipas.

But these durable natural joys slip past,

And I blurt:

“Can’t get the horrible Texas Legislature’s attacks on women’s health

Out of mind.

Fucking god-damn white men, mostly old, some young.”

There, I explained my stony face.

Eugene “Gene” Novogrodsky is a founder of the Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center Writers Forum in San Benito. He is a part-time English instructor for several University of Texas-Brownsville and Texas Southmost College programs.