WATER TOWER

When I was in middle school
two other boys and I climbed
the water tower after dark.
We did it on a dare. We didn’t
have paint, but we had a beer,
a pack of Marlboro and a near
empty matchbox. So, we sat
smoking cigarette after cigarette
on the catwalk high above our
little kingdom, in a moment
of triumph, lying to ourselves
about other ways we might fly.

 

LEAVING WEST TEXAS

Water may bless
this desert someday. Trees may spring
from this dusty soil; birds
may shelter in the branches—
and they will sing sweetly, maybe,
of terrible choices
they have made. But right now,
the only thing that matters
is this stop light
and this yellow line in the road.

 

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Paxton Maroney is a Dallas-based conceptual artist predominantly using the medium of photography. You can see her artwork in Bishop Arts District at Jen Mauldin Gallery. Featured works are listed on her website.

The series titled Anscoflex was created in Archer City, TX and was shot digitally through the viewfinder of her Anscoflex camera. One may question why she didn’t just use film? Whether it is a single image, her digitally composited work or her mixed media, Paxton is always intentional with her process.  As you take a peek through the glass, a sense of presence is allowed.

Dan Collins is an artist and poet active in the creative community of Dallas. He co-owns and operates Tree House Studio with his wife Rebecca Lansdowne Collins. He was 2015 Winner of both the Writer’s Garret People’s Choice Award and Juried Haiku Contest. His poetry has been published in the Blue Mesa Review (2nd place annual writing contest, issue #32), Naugatuck River Review (Semi-finalist 4th Annual Narrative Poetry Contest), The online journals Entropy and [Out of Nothing]. He is a ‘brain trust’ member of Pandora’s Box Poetry Showcase, a monthly Dallas invitational reading series.