~ Another Rule to Break…

Well the experts say
in your poetry
don’t use a cliché
to tell your story

bleeding hearts of men
the tail of a dog
clucking like old hens
croaking like a frog

a bright twinkling star
the light of the moon
runs like a new car
humming of a tune

she’s the cat’s meow
the chug of a train
a slow drifting cloud
the patter of rain

even this rhyme scheme
of ABAB
has no place it seems
in your poetry

so maybe what’s wrong
with this world today
we all go along
with what experts say

cause with no cliché
just what can I do
no ‘Happy Birthday’
or an ‘I Love You’

so my word to you
forget what they say
if it works for you
do it anyway

~ The Dance…

The world is filled with some fancy dancers
who’ll come a prancing through your bedroom door
They’ll do a pretty good job of makin
you think they’re spot on what you’re lookin for

But they’ll hem and haw and skirt the edges
never quite proving what they claim to be
They’ll never give you any straight answers
when you tell em just what it is you need

The words will roll cross their tongues so easy
they’ll try to hide behind a white toothed lie
Watch ‘em primp and prune their fancy feathers
while promising you the moon in the sky

Just keep on looking for the kind of man
who’s only promise is a life of love
And asks for nothing but to share that life
under a wide Montana sky above

You’ll know for sure my dear when you’ve found him
the right cowboy will treat you like he should
never take a single breath without you
and no one will care for you like he would

So I’ll toss my hat into the circle
though I can never promise you the world
I can make darn sure to never hurt you
if you’ll only be this cowboy’s cowgirl

~ Will I Be Remembered…


I only hope that someday the words
I bleed into each poem and rhyme
Will bequeath such a legacy that
it’s able to bridge the gap of time

Perhaps the future might honor me
for these simple words I leave behind
Or will these poems rust and splinter
into scraps penned from a withered mind

~ Cowboy Life Ain’t Dead ~

They said the cowboy way of living
has withered away and is long gone
Least that’s what I seen in the movies
and heard in all them old country songs

They tell me bout how them olden days
and the way cowboy’s life used to be
Is now just faded pages in books
of folklore and revered history

So I headed out to Montana
so that maybe I might understand
just how them old cowboys could make it
livin their life out there on the land

Well lo and behold I could hardly
believe the things these eyes of mine saw
To my surprise you see, all them old
cowboy ways weren’t gone after all

They are still out cowpokin’ just like
time for them has never had to change
Still a ropin, ridin and brandin
and pushing them cows across the range

Still searching for a few straying cows
from rugged canyons, mountains and streams
A rounding them all together for
dehorning and branding so it seems

Still bustin all them onry ole broncs
that’s as wild as the hot prairie wind
Out riding alone along miles of
them fences looking for breaks to mend

Still singing all those old cowboy songs
while gathered around the campfire light
A telling their tall tales of glory
underneath a bright rustlers moon light

Still feeling the scorching summer’s sun
that burns the grass and dries out the sage
Giving everything they can muster
for a few beans and almost no wage

Still working hard and loving harder
the way that cowboys have always done
I know I will ride alongside them
because a cowboy I have become

The great life of the western cowboy
that everyone thought was dead and gone
May have had its place in history
but I say the best is yet to come

~ By Just a smidge…

I may be 5 foot 9 but by the time
I have to reach over my middle tire
A skinny person of lets say 5 feet
might reach things a couple inches higher

Those tricky top shelves are strictly for things
I know that I’m never going to need
Like huckleberry jam, rice vinegar,
brown paper lunch bags and caraway seed

When searching through the kitchen cabinets
I find that I’m too short by just a smidge
So I have no idea what’s hiding in
that little cabinet over the fridge