sara Etgen-Baker Poet Free verse

Notes About The Poem

image from tripadvisor.com

“Marfa (population 784) is a city in the high desert of the Trans-Pecos in far West Texas. The Marfa Lights, also known as the Marfa Ghost Lights, are mysterious lights observed near Marfa, Texas, often seen as orbs that change in color and intensity…” (source: Marfa Tourism Bureau)

PILGRIMAGE TO MARFA

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For over two decades, my husband and I taught in Fabens, Texas, a small border community southeast of El Paso, Texas.  Teaching in a border community was hard and required a certain amout of Texas grit. By spring break, we were spent and exhausted.  So, a group of us teachers looked for a place where we could escape, gain perspective, and rejuvenate before the final stretch of the school year. We loaded up an SUV and made the three-hour drive from El Paso to Marfa, Texas, calling our journey Pilgrimage to Marfa.

The sun bleaches bones of old Chevys  
parked like tombstones 
behind the Hotel Paisano~  
Marfa doesn’t rush. 
Even spring break  
is a slow unraveling, 
a dust devil spinning  
nothing but its own restless heat.  

Marfa doesn’t care  
that we came here to escape~  
only that we did,  
barefooted down a gravel road,  
dust rising like slow applause.  

We wander through town,
the desert swallowing us whole  
in its pink-lit throat~ 
A tumbleweed rolls 
through the motel pool,  
chlorine-green and half-drained,  
while the neon sign blinks:
Vacancy or Mirage?  

At dusk, we drive gravel roads  
chasing the Marfa lights—  
not UFOs, just the desert exhaling  
what we can’t explain.  

Yet, we half-believe in something out here~  
the Marfa Ghost Lights,  
the way the highway stretches  
like a long, lazy promise 

The stars here don’t twinkle.  
They stab.  

When the wind lifts a skirt of sand  
over the highway’s cracked lips,  
we all pause, feeling  
suddenly holy,  
suddenly small.

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Line Gauthier December 6, 2025 at 6:12 PM I knew you were a teacher !!! Nice memories ~

Arthur Vaso November 30, 2025 at 10:28 PM Enjoyed this! and learned something new! sara Etgen-Baker December 6, 2025 at 5:17 PM many thanks for your visit and comments

Gershon Wolf November 30, 2025 at 7:46 PM Wow. Your poem really swept me up into what 'Marfa' must really feel like... none too pleasant most of the time... You and Bill truly gutted it out there. I imagine there are folks who would rather 'barfa' than go to Marfa. How could I possibly resist that one, eh? sara Etgen-Baker December 6, 2025 at 5:19 PM barfa in Marfa--how clever.....yes, we really did have to gut it up out in West Texas....teaching in a border community was a wild ride but purposeful. Arthur Vaso November 30, 2025 at 10:29 PM To bad you not swept up by humanity.

Paige Hind November 30, 2025 at 12:45 AM I love all your rich metaphors. It's like a ride itself reading you, Sara!! sara Etgen-Baker December 6, 2025 at 5:18 PM awww, thank you, dear Paige. I appreciate you riding along

Jerrold Prothero November 29, 2025 at 7:54 AM Very evocative, thank you for the poem. sara Etgen-Baker December 6, 2025 at 5:18 PM thank you, Jerrold, for your visit and complimentary words.