FOLK COLLECTION 11: The Skaggs Foundation Cowboy Poetry Collection

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

11

Elizabeth Ebert

The Cowboy

He wears a dusty Stetson Circled by a sweat-stained band And he's a couple fingers short Upon his roping hand. His boot heels are run over some And his legs a little bowed.

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

13

Elizabeth Ebert

Antique Auction

One dollar, two dollars, Who'll make it three? Come seek an antique At auction with me. We'll wade in nostalgia Up to our ears.

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

15

Elizabeth Ebert

Winter Fashions

I've been scanning winter fashions, Reading women's magazines In search of swank alternatives For sweat shirts and for jeans. I've checked out top designers, But, so far, I've looked in vain For some high-fashion garments Right for South Dakota's plain.

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

19

Elizabeth Ebert

Prairie Religion

The black robes came with crucifix and beads To bring God to the unchurched prairie land To offer prayers in alien word and phrase That those who listened could not understand.

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

21

Elizabeth Ebert

She Rode A Spotted Pony

She rode a spotted pony With her yellow braids a-flop, They'd callop 'cross the prairie Then sometimes they would stop To pick a bunch of flowers, And the pony'd flicker an ear To listen to a confidence That only he should hear.

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

23

Elizabeth Ebert

Dakota Winter

When Dakota winds are whistling Their bitter winter tune, When daylight shambles in too slow And darkness comes too soon. When trees are frost-encrusted And the snow falls thick and deep Like a white and wooly blanket That lulls the earth to sleep.

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

25

Elizabeth Ebert

Ranch Wife

This ranch wife is no cowboy, I must admit that's true But I still think that I would be One darned good buckaroo. Could ride the meanest broncos Rope and dally with the best.

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

29

Elizabeth Ebert

Wagons West

The breakfast fire was only embers now And hunkered down beside the wagon wheel He nursed the dregs of coffee while she packed Leftover pancakes for their noonday meal. A week of rain had slowed them to a crawl If they looked eastward they could see the track The laden wagons cut in prairie sod.

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

31

Elizabeth Ebert

Steatopygia

I do not wish to seem unkind But Hottentots protrude behind. It isn't that they overeat On lush desserts and hearty meat. The experts say the reason's seen In some hereditary gene.

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

33

Elizabeth Ebert

The Salty Tongue

He had a very salty tongue At least that's what I've heard. He didn't swear continuously Just every other word. But she ignored the gossip Didn't question if 'twas right For in her company h is words Were gently and polite.

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

37

Elizabeth Ebert

In The Lobby Of A Small Hotel

In the lobby of a small hotel Sat a brazen, buxom blonde, She was smooching with her sweetie In a manner overfond. She wore a flowered muumuu In a brilliant shade of blue.

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

38

Elizabeth Ebert

No Cause For Alienation

If your best friend is acting real strange Like he's wandered far off from home range And you fear in his place Is an alien from space.

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

40

Elizabeth Ebert

Lesson Learned On Reading Esther: Chapter One

King Ahasuerus was a mighty man Who ruled from a palace in Shushan, Ethiopia to the India shore, A hundred provinces and more. He lived a rich and noble life And a gal named Vashti was his wife.

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

43

Elizabeth Ebert

Song for Spring

They can sing you a song of the ocean The shimmer of surf and of sand Of the awe that is felt at its vastness And the crash of the breakers 'gainst land. They can sing you a song of the rivers With their grandeur of rapid and fall.

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

45

Elizabeth Ebert

Prairie Painters

Sometime between "darkest before the dawn" And the mystical first light hours. The fairies slip through the dew-wet grass To paint the prairie flowers.

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

47

Elizabeth Ebert

Cottonwoods

These are the trees that graced the Alamo, That heard the roar of Santa Anna's guns Spring's red-tinged catkins trembled and drooped low Above the carnage there. These are the ones The prairie travelers sought.

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

49

Elizabeth Ebert

Poem for Howard

No disrespect is meant to Howard--nor to God-- But not that mustached face beneath a halo's rim Those flowing robes of white would hindrance be His boots and Stetson better suited him.

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

51

Elizabeth Ebert

New Age Cowboy

The seed-capped New Age cowboy Has an earring in his ear And drums and heavy metal Are all he cares to hear. Never sings about Joe the Wrangler Out riding Old Blue Rocket And his mount's a roaring ATV With a cell phone in his pocket.

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

53

Elizabeth Ebert

A Windy Montana Tale

A gale force wind, Montana style, Was blowing from the west When a man of nearly ninety years Began a midnight quest To catch an errant Stetson That had taken sudden flight Across the street and parking lot And off into the night.

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

55

Elizabeth Ebert

Beached Mariner

Barnaby Tovarik, beard foam-flecked, And teeth awash with beer Squints sun-paled eyes at neon lights.

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

57

Elizabeth Ebert

Tribute to Roy Rogers

Long years ago when I was young It would have been my joy To be a cowby's sweetheart and ride the range with Roy. We'd watch a western sunset We'd hear the coyotes wail.

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

59

Elizabeth Ebert

Baking Cookies

It's cookie-baking time again And we'd best get underway. For little hands are helping So 'twill take more time today. They'll measure out the shortening They'll smear it on the book.

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

61

Elizabeth Ebert

When Father Carved the Bird

I'll not forget the Christmas Nor the things that came to pass When Mom decided country kids Should gain a bit of class. We would have a gourmet dinner Like rich folks of whom we'd heard And we'd all "make conversation" While Father carved the bird.

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

63

Elizabeth Ebert

Bringing Along a Spare

He'd bought the old McGregor place Fifty miles out west of town. Said he'd come into some money And had put a payment down He was in his early thirties And he didn't have a wife So he thought he'd follow up his dream And try a rancher's life.

Prairie Wife

FC 11 E-20

64

Elizabeth Ebert

Prairie Princess

The day has arrived for which she's been yearning, She's nervous, excited, her stomach is churning. She's been dressing since noontie, she mustn't be late This new prairie princess out on her first date.