Set in the drought-plagued landscape of Central Texas, Ascension is a collection of lyric poems that chronicles life in and around Llano, Texas (population 3,033). Brownlee’s poems meditate on the inescapability of place.
Organ Solo with Oblivion and Gar
Skittish fish lay eggs
in this shallow stone
cleft of an algae chorus.
Turn my soul into song,
if you can, River Lord.
Treat believing the same
as each minnow slipping
coin-like into deep murk.
Your spirit mimics me
unblinking, fishbone
face framing brackish
absence, saying, Kneel
into this. Lean low,
sinner, & drink. Bitter
infidel, swallow the black
granite whole if you are not
afraid of what comes after it:
___________. Live forever.
