Pre-Texas: Stake, Stead

Jim LaVilla-Havelin

February 1, 2026

the land is the land’s

we

      are The People

(ever notice how many indigenous folks’

             name for their group is - The People

             and for the others some slur, or just

             The Others?)

we

       stake no claim, put up no fence

       thunder across open miles

       and come back

       to some places

they

        settle

         gather

         re-name

         remain

when we swoop down upon them

       who have  

       claimed those places

their tidy farms

              (Even Woody had it wrong -

                “This land is your land, this land is my land…”)

we are not trying to take it over

we are just

                     like the displaced across the globe

        pushing

                     back

Jim LaVilla-Havelin is the author of eight books of poetry, including A Thoreau Book (Alabrava Press, 2025). He is the co-editor of the University of Houston Press, Unsung Masters volume on Rosemary Catacalos (2025), serves as literary executor for her estate, and is assembling her unpublished work for a volume titled Sing!

An educator, editor, and community arts activist, LaVilla-Havelin was, for over 10 years, Poetry Editor for the San Antonio Express-News. He has been the Coordinator of National Poetry Month in San Antonio’s annual activities for 18 years (as of 2025). In 2019, he was awarded the City of San Antonio’s Distinction in the Arts for Literary Arts.

A creative writing teacher for almost 50 years - in addition to his 12 years of teaching at The Cyndi Taylor Krier Juvenile Correctional Treatment Center for Gemini Ink’s Partners Program - LaVilla-Havelin teaches senior citizens in the Go Arts Program through Bihl Haus Cultural Arts, and has been Poet in Residence at the Young Women’s Leadership Academy, teaching high school students.

His most recent 2025 poetry collection is from Lamar University Literary Press, Mesquites Teach Us to Bend.