Weldon Sandusky
THE STATE INSANE ASYLUM
TERRELL, TEXAS
Aged and weather tarnished
Red brick buildings obscure
Little picnic tables scattered
Among trees where strategically
Located an Administration Building
Arises with a three-story
Bell tower and white columns.
Then, focusing more sharply
Appears a convenient warehouse,
Refrigeration units from World War II, and
Several one story ranch style ward buildings
With a gymnasium singular and oddly
Compatible.
The State Highway is a mile away the
Area filled in by dilapidated residential
Houses.
No hills. No people. No water. No funny business.
The inmates walk around and a couple of
Security cars patrol.
I was in L-Ward where inside
Was a women's ward and a men's ward.
Nurses stations abut a great white marble floor
Thirty foot ceiling hall. A T.V., a typewriter,
A refrigerator with a kitchen in back
Are accessible. You wouldn't say penitentiary or
Manufacturer; but, you would say austere
And cyclone fence and you would want
To leave.
* * *
STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT
EIGTH GRADE
I didn't last long—
A picture of Alfred E. Newman
Slanderously imposed over my own
And an announcement over the school's
Intercom that I was being impeached
Because of grades.
The teachers weren't kind either:
1. I failed to answer simple math questions.
2. I was poor at Latin.
3. I was awkward in kickball.
4. My spelling was atrocious.
5. I failed saying pick a peck of pickled peppers.
Enemies mocked me.
A picture of a Playboy pin-up
Was plastered on the back of my jeans.
Two football players locked me
In a school locker.
They'd call me 'spasmo' or 'Mr. Wimpy'.
I couldn't dance and regularly had my pants
Taken off on the bus home.
Eventually I was made to wear a
Funny dumbo hat.
I breathed a sigh of relief
When we moved to another city
Where the oath of office became a faint memory.
Weldon Sandusky graduated from Texas Tech University in 1968 with a B.A. in English. He received an M.A. in
English from the University of Wisconsin and a law degree (J.D. l975) from the same school. Divorce followed as
did commitment first, to the private psychiatric hospital, Timberlawn, in Dallas and later, to the State Mental
Asylum in Terrell, Texas.
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