COWPAT POETRY

I heard an old time cowboy
speak of lands now long time lost
of cattle driven crazy
by new dudes at high cost

They drove longhorns to market
all the way up to Ft .Worth
It has become a tourist attraction
Among skyscrapers=stockyards!

Now longhorns are a relic
like cowboys long time gone
Pilgrims with their digital cameras
replace their cowboy songs

Old cowboys are retirees
or greenhorns on a lark
The stockyards soon to be replaced
by another jogging park

And we are as those cattle
We herd and stomp and stamp
for admission to tourist attractions
costs as much as our lost lands

So-cowboys of another time
Come gather in your ghosts
like bison/Native Americans
We cannot pay the cost
of what is lost
gone from us.
dust.

ONE MORE SADDLE EMPTY NOW
one more cross to bear
He rose in to the sunset
We never knew where

Now cowboys are our history
live only in museums
He tried to rope and brand but
only in his dreams

He followed all rodeos
Eight minutes in the air
A wild horse beneath him
Tossed him without a care

Broken legs and arms again
(adjusting to the pain)
Now he has finally gone we know
We will not see his like again

Thanks to John Levacy for Cowboy Poetry Workshop@Forrest Fest April 30/May 1.