Texas Book Festival presents ‘Texas, Being,’ anthology of bright poets from across Texas

The Poetry Tent bustled with nervous energy as colleagues, students and poetry aficionados listened to the "State of Complexity" panel read poems traversing the diverse land, history and emotions of Texas from the book "Texas, Being."

This weekend, UT writing alumna Jenny Browne and contributors to Browne's anthology of poems "Texas, Being," Cecily Parks, ire'ne lara silva and Carrie Fountain, took the stage in Texas Book Festival's Poetry Tent for "State of Complexity: Poets on the Beauty and Brutality of Texas." Published in April 2024, the anthology includes the works of six state poet laureates, four city poet laureates and 35 other poets from different nationalities and origins that hold a special place for Texas in their hearts.

"Texas is a state that has real borders," said Browne. "Borders are also places we come against and places we pass through. I think the most interesting borders are often those inside ourselves. A poem is a place where you can navigate your own borders, with other people and with place itself."

Browne, a former poet laureate, used her experiences from when she first moved to Texas in shaping the title poem "Texas, Being." The poem illustrates the distance and intimacy of Texas.

"('Texas, Being') isn't trying to be comprehensive or thick," Browne said. "It is trying to gather a selection of voices that speak to each other. I hope there's something in here that speaks to any reader, no matter their relationship with Texas."

Joining Browne on the panel, 2023 poet laureate ire'ne lara silva read her poem "To the South," which shares the untold story of the Southern Mexican Underground Railroad from Texas to Mexico. silva said she intends to integrate Indigenous and Mexican history into her poetry.

silva attended her first Texas Book Festival in 1998 but officially became a Texas Book Festival author in 2014.

"I came to the Texas Book Festival, for the first time, as a huge fan of everybody," silva said. "I have many memories over the years of (the festival), so 26 years off and on of coming to this festival and seeing, dreaming about having a book published."

Parks, a professor at Texas State University, presented a different kind of poem, "Texas

Natives." Her abecedarian list poem identifies the different plant life she perceived when moving to Texas. Although Parks grew up outside of New York, she said moving to Texas offered her a new perspective as her fascination with nature expanded.

"I feel lucky to have so many wonderful poets so close at hand," Parks said. "When you're in an anthology, you usually just submit a poem, and you're together with poets on the page but barely in person. It seems like a responsibility, sometimes, or an assignment, but I'd be just curious to know what they think about when they think about writing about Texas, where they start."