Patriotism: An Acrostic

Steve Wilson

February 1, 2026

Driving one last time this wasting, now-emotionless landscape

in West Texas. Even the miles of prickly pear cactus browned, wearied –

cowboys cursing the heat, the white-fire sun blinding them

to their leader’s daily cruelties, duplicities, complicities.

Arroyos parched to sand and ash by another long drought.

These many months with no rain, no escape from what’s ahead:

one angry advance into canyons framed fierce with chiseled 

rock – his trudge toward retribution. Come then, burn what will burn.

Steve Wilson's poetry has appeared in journals and anthologies nationwide, as well as in six collections, the most recent entitled Complicity (2023). His work has also appeared in a few Texas Poetry Assignments. He lives in San Marcos.