eyes of texas upon me

my face leans against the passenger window of my mother's full-size pick-up. the drive from austin to cameron revealing the texas i never knew growing up. no skyscrapers or outlet malls or ten lane thoroughfares. no, this is the texas that pops up only in dreams. lazy hills just tall enough to tease you about the endless land on the other side. population sixty towns with one mexican restaurant and two abandoned grocery stores. this landscape contrasting the eccentric hills of eastern washington. this landscape a different hypnosis of sort. but maybe the magic lies in my memories, taking me back only years. but it also laughs at me, taunting me as if this were the only place on earth and everyone knows it but me.

"texas," the landscape whispers through the dusty window, "is going nowhere. texas, my friend, is this world. go go go go go anywhere you want, but texas knows."