Texas Hill Country

Texas in Poetry can be read straight through as a commentary on life in the Lone Star State. Or it can be read a poem or author at a time. But if read straight through from "I'll Take Texas" to "No Quittin' Sense" the whole Texas experience as seen by more than a hundred poets cannot fail to make an impact on the reader. Editor Billy Bob Hill includes such poets as Mirabeau B. Lamar, a Texas president and poetaster from the days of the Republic; Berta Harte Nance, author of the centennial poem that begins "Other states were carved or born/But Texas grew from hide and horn"--lines that furnished at least one book title and occasioned a number of parodies. And, of course, one poem about Texas that is magnificent in its awfulness, "Laska, " with memorable lines like "Scratches don't count/In Texas down by the Rio Grande." But most of the poems in this large, handsome volume are much superior to the representative early poems included. All the well-known poets in the state are included -- riters like Walter McDonald, Betsy Colquitt, and Vassar Miller -- as well as newer writers. Nor has the editor failed to offer a generous sampling of the state's best minority voices -- Carmen Tafolla, Rolando Hinojosa, Lorenzo Thomas, Jas. Mardis, Ray Gonzalez, and Teresa Paloma Acosta. The volume is divided into sections with titles suggested by well-known books by Texas authors. Some of the sections are "I'll Take Texas" (from Mary Lasswell's book); "Faces of Blood Kindred" (William Goyen's original title); "This Stubborn Soil" (from the first volume of William A. Owens's autobiography); and, from A. C. Greene's memoir about West Texas, "A Personal Country." Texas in Poetry is a revised andupdated edition of Hill's popular and definitive Texas in Poetry: A 150-Year Anthology. In this volume, as in the previous edition, Hill presents a selection of representative Texas poems from the early days of the colony to the beginning of the twenty-first century.

"Count yourself fortunate that this book has arrived and that Lockwood is your guide. I recommend that you settle back for an enjoyable and highly informative read, and then follow Lockwood's directions to a personal field study of Edwards Plateau birdlife. And by all means, keep this book close at hand. This now is the modern baseline to which your discoveries will be compared."--from the ForewordSituated in the center of a state renowned for its abundant and varied birdlife, the Texas Hill Country provides habitat for 4 resident and migratory species, including the endangered Golden-cheeked Warbler and Black-capped Vireo. Mark Lockwood, a biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife, has monitored these and other bird populations throughout the Hill Country for many years. In this book, he offers a complete, up-to-date guide to the status and distribution of every bird species reliably reported on the Edwards Plateau. The species accounts focus on four key characteristics of each bird: relative abundance, distribution within the region, habitat, and timing of occurrence. In addition, Lockwood discusses species that have been reported, but not documented, in the Hill Country, as well as those that might be expected to occur. For birders and ornithologists less familiar with the region, Lockwood also gives a general introduction to the ecology of the Edwards Plateau and to the flora and birdlife found in eighteen parks and birding areas.