Twixt Us

Laurence Musgrove

Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday that Texas will build a border wall along the state’s boundary with Mexico — but provided no details on where or when.  

                                        The Texas Tribune, 6/10/2021

Time laughs at walls.

Space laughs at walls.

I could hear my neighbor

Next door yelling at her kid

For crying out loud.

The problem with division

Is that it can only think

In twos, this into that,

That into this, while you

And me are more than plural.

Earth laughs at walls.

Sky laughs at walls.

What we don’t share already

Mounts higher than any

Pyrenee or Himalaya.

Because all things must pass

And all things must arise

(Again and again), we’ll never stop

Plowing up dirt into one row

After another of me and you.

Walls laugh at walls,

The past at the present.

The only wall a tyrant

Wants is the one built

Between him and true.

Laurence Musgrove is a Texas writer, teacher, cartoonist, and editor. His previous books include Local Bird – a poetry collection, One Kind of Recording – a volume of aphorisms, and The Bluebonnet Sutras – Buddhist dialogues in verse, all from Lamar University Literary Press. Professor of English at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas, he teaches courses in composition, literature, and creative writing. Laurence is also editor and publisher of Texas Poetry Assignment and cartoons at texosophy.substack.com.