The World at Fannin and McKinney
Suzanne Morris
February 1, 2026
On a Saturday afternoon, I am
driving through downtown Houston
for the first time since
that moment when my world
stood still in a solemn adieu
then resumed turning on its axis,
without you.
At the corner of
Fannin and McKinney
the light turns red.
As the car sits idling,
I find myself gazing at
the rear entrance of the old 12-story
Southern National Bank building
where I once spent all my
working hours.
Muscled out of the
latter-day skyline by
glass-sheathed towers
four times as high
befitting a world-class city
well-known for
shaking the dust from its sandals,
the buff-colored stone edifice
seems unchanged
from the time when I was
drawn into its bustling orbit;
and all at once I have
a feeling of déjà vu,
slipping inside
the taut skin of my youth,
the sun warming
my bare arms
as I open the door on the
passenger side
and step out onto the pavement
in a mini-skirt and pantyhose
at eight o’clock on a
weekday morning
to head for the
tall glass doors that lead
to a job on the seventh floor
that I love in a way
few people seem to, anymore
where officemates look out
for one another
and fast friendships
are made
and every year you can
count on a modest raise.
At the end of the workday
when shadows steal across
the building faces
you will pull up at the corner of
Fannin and McKinney
and I will open the passenger door
and slide in.
We are like Houston:
youthful and hard-working,
with money to spend,
betting on a future
as high in the clouds
as the skyline on view
when the traffic light
turns green,
reminding me that
all we dreamed of
in the world we knew is
resting in peace now,
as you are.
Before becoming a poet, Suzanne Morris was a novelist, with eight published works between 1976 and 2016. Many of her early poems were featured in her fiction, to advance the underlying themes. Since 2020, she has contributed poems to several anthologies, and has been published at a variety of online poetry journals, including The Texas Poetry Assignment. A native Houstonian, Ms. Morris has resided in Cherokee County for 17 years.
