Poems from sonnets to free verse focus on pleasures and problems in ranch life and in west Texas, which include variations differing for generations returning to the ranch, and those family members who leave the ranch for city life. CORMORANTS’ JOURNEY Snowbirds come diving down, sliding in carelessly splatting, pecking on windows, doors, building nests, dropping threads, shards of old nests hanging on their beaks, claws. Their fluttering white feathers blocking the sun’s puny attempts to break through, making the streets slick with their droppings as their baggage slides by, bumping into place side by side by side. Odysseus would tramp off to far west Texas, hankering for firm enchiladas, crusty tacos, brown eyes, and thin clear skies.