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.