Tilting

Jim LaVilla-Havelin

June 30, 2024

it will fall soon

one day, it felt like out of nowhere,

the stalk rose from the sharp-edged mandala

that is agave

rose to propogate and die

blossoms atop it, whirligig wonder

mixed feelings - it will fall soon

and be gone

but on its way to dying -

flamboyant, joyous 

she says, it looks like something

out of Dr. Seuss, and I’m remembering

Thidwick’s commodious antlers 

and Gary gives it back its name, tureng 

word for it -  quiote

which seems quite perfect to me

that knight on horseback, followed 

closely by Sancho, on burro

tilting at windmills - Quixote

become a metaphor for futility

when maybe, really, just a vegetable dream

to be transformed into  

white metal bladed giants, turning in

the wind, along the Gulf Coast and

deep into the Valley

Jim LaVilla-Havelin is the author of six books of poetry. His most recent, Tales from the Breakaway Republic, a chapbook, was published by Moonstone Press, Philadelphia, in May 2022. LaVilla-Havelin is the Coordinator for National Poetry Month in San Antonio.