Yellow Mama E zine
Issue #115
Where's the F*cking Alamo?: Poem by Richard Allen Taylor
Art by John C. Mannone © 2026
Where’s the Fucking Alamo?
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by Richard Allen Taylor
for C.A.
My friend told the story. The boss flew
to Texas, left her behind in New York,
then phoned the office and yelled
Where’s the Fucking Alamo?
Who would ask that? A lost tourist?
A photographer looking for historic
buildings? Or maybe Davy Crockett.
Most likely he did ask that.
And what about those of us who seek
our own shrines, who scrape for
justice, who wage our own little wars?
We arm ourselves with the symbols,
the swords, the courage, the words,
not simply to remember our alamos,
but to find them while they still stand.
Richard Allen Taylor is the author of four poetry collections including Letters to Karen Carpenter and Other Poems (2023) from Main Street Rag Publishing Company. His poems, articles and reviews have appeared in Aeolian Harp, Flying South, Litmosphere, Pinesong, Tar River Poetry, Rattle, and Sheila-Na-Gig Online, among others. Several of his poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. He formerly served as review editor for The Main Street Rag and founding co-editor of Kakalak. He earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Queens University of Charlotte and currently resides in Greer, South Carolina.
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John C. Mannone is a scientist, poet, essayist, fiction writer, and poetry editor who often creates derivative visual art and photo art for speculative poems in Abyss & Apex (as well as for Silver Blade (currently on hiatus) and former ADR Poetry). His photography has appeared in the Chattanooga Writers Guild anthologies. His literary work appears widely in Artemis, Critical Humanities, The New England Journal of Medicine, and others. He’s a retired professor of physics and the Poet Laureate for the City of Oak Ridge (2026-2028).