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ST. JONAH
ORTHODOX CHURCH
Come, See & Hear the Services
of Early Christianity
◊
Fr. Nicholas Roth
Sunday 10 am • Wednesday 6:30 pm
405 E. Gallego Avenue • Alpine, TX 79830
432-360-3209 • bigbendorthodox.org
301 W. Hwy 90
Marathon
432-386-4352
2015 Chamber Events
July - Chili Cook-off and Dance at the Post Park
September - West Fest Cabrito Cook Off at Post Park
October - Marathon to Marathon & Quilt Show
November - Cowboy Social at Ritchey Brothers Building
December - Fiesta de Noche Buena
24
– go to marathontexas.com for details –
Cenizo
I
f a life is defined by its toils
and its minutiae, and if
that life has no witness to
suffuse it with greater signifi-
cance than its own rough sur-
face of sweat, dirt and strug-
gle, how much does it mean?
The rare clarities born from
rolling a simple thought in the
mind for days, or years; the
million repetitions of simple
movements; the pointless effi-
ciency of working to eat and
eating to work; if no one sees,
does it all disappear?
Larry D. Thomas, 2008
Texas Poet Laureate, fellow of
the Texas Institute of Letters,
and resident of Alpine, bears
witness to the life of The
Goatherd in his poetry collec-
tion by the same name.
Inspired by Gilberto Luna, the
pioneer farmer who lived in
his jacal in what is now Big
Bend National Park in the
early 1900s, The Goatherd
provides a window on a life
lived in the desert. The
panorama of loneliness and
solitude provide a backdrop
for his labors, simple in execu-
tion, forever repeated yet
always different. Religion and
superstition, the disappoint-
ment of coyotes and the fleet-
ing joy of a taste of cheese, the
animal drives of the body and
the higher musings of the
mind are interwoven through-
out Thomas’s 14 poems.
Thomas was recently
awarded the 2015 Western
Heritage Wrangler Award in
the literary/poetry book cate-
gory for The Goatherd. The
award, given by the Western
Heritage
Museum
of
Oklahoma City, O.K., is
among the most prestigious
given for creative work that
celebrates the American West.
He received the award April
18, 2015, at the Museum’s
annual award presentation.
This is the second Western
Third Quarter 2015
Heritage Award Thomas has
received, the first being for his
book Amazing Grace (Texas
Review Press, Texas A&M
University Press Consortium).
In an interview with Agave
Magazine on March 5, 2015,
Thomas explained his muse:
“One “trigger” which seems
to keep inspiring my poetry is
the borderlands region of the
Great Chihuahuan Desert of
far West Texas (I was raised in
Midland). Although a harsh
environment of dust, rock,
thorns, stingers, fangs, claws,
and precious little rain, it is
also a place of haunting natu-
ral beauty. I find this juxtapo-
sition intriguingly fascinating.
The people who eke out a liv-
ing in this desolate place are
Larry Thomas
obdurate, resourceful, and
highly self-reliant, and I have
looked up to them my entire
adult life.”
The Goatherd (Mouthfeel
Press, 2014) is written in
Thomas’s unequivocal style,
accessible and deceptively
simple. His careful economy
of language and scintillating
themes make his work a pleas-
ure to read and revisit, as the
turning of each thought and
phrase reveals new gems for
the delight of the reader. Like
Homer preserving the lore of
his
countrymen,
Larry
Thomas makes the life of The
Goatherd a treasure to be pre-
served, and the Chihuahuan
Desert a muse to inspire gen-
erations to come.