FOLK COLLECTION 11: The Skaggs Foundation Cowboy Poetry Collection

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Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

Caking First-Calf Heifers

The morning's crisp and clear and cold. The first-calf heifers wait beside the gate. They jockey for a position in the lead, And bawl their irritation if I'm late. I've loudly said, "Young cows need exercise."

Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

An Ordinary Morning

'Twas just an ordinary mornin' Somewhere along in May, When my husband hollered from the yard, And then I heard him say, "I'm goin' to the pasture, It'll take an hour or two, And if you'd like to come along, We'll drive out in Old Blue."

Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

If I Were Blind

If I were blind and could not see the sunrise Nor watch the frolicking of calves in spring, Perhaps I still could feel the sun's caress And hear the prairie grasses whispering.

Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

Heavenly Music

The deep notes swell, and spread, and soar To heaven's portals, when an organ plays. The voices of the Tabernacle Choir Lift up a hundred strong in humns of praise.

Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

True Grit

The crowd had all left the rodeo ground, Just a bunch of old cowboys were hangin' around. Hunkered down on rheumatic haunches, With balding pates and protruding paunches, Drinkin' to the old days way back when The horses were tougher and so were the men.

Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

High School Rodeo

They shoved the bulls up into the chutes, They were big and ugly and fightin' mean, And the freckle-faced kid who drew number two Couldn't have been a day over age fifteen. But he was all business, he wanted to win, And he wasn't looking to left nor right.

Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

Questions For A Ranch Wife

How can a woman clean the house, And wash and sew and bake, And be the "go fer" after parts, And plow and mow and rake; And keep the books, and tend the kids As only women can, And still have time to help with chores? The unpaid hired man!

Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

Two Viewpoints At Weaning Time

We weaned the calves today, and we Sat long upon that fence to see, Could we discover mid the fuss Just what the future held for us. I didn't hear their plaintive bawl, I didn't see weaning calves at all.

Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

Long Joe Taylor Baines

Joe Taylor Baines sat easy on his horse Peered through the curtain of fresh-falling snow To catch some telltale movement that would prove That nesters rode the couleees down below. The L2 beeves that wintered on this range Had come up shorter ever since the day The homesteaders had come to settle here.

Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

I Wondered

Her saddle pants of buckskin gold Stretched taut accross her thighs, I wondered at which store in town Stocked britches in that size.

Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

Old Blue And The Pickup Cowgirl

I see you look askance and sneer at me As you ride by upon your fiery steed, To lope with ease across the grassy plain, Amaze companions with some roping deed.

Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

West By Wagon

They were going west by wagon So they rose before the sun; Each one eager to get started And to get the journey done. As motley a collection As you'd ever chance to meet, Driving wheel to wheel with people That they'd snub out on the street.

Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

The Last Great Rabbit Hunt

Back when we first were married We were short of cash, and so We decided we'd hunt rabbits, Just to make some extra dough. Old Sure-Shot with his twenty-two And me, the True Believer, Content to tag along behind And act as his retriever.

Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

Owl's Men

In breathless stillness that occurs Just before the dawn, I stare out of my window across the dew-wet lawn.

Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

Some Women Get Roses

Some women get roses! Velvet of petal and long of stem, Placed in a box like a precious gem. Brought by a man from the florist's place, Beautifully right for a crystal vase.

Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

Free Land

An empire! One hundred and sixty acres! Promised free to the eager takers. A home for their families is what they sought With plowshares bright as the dreams they brought. They built their schools and they worshipped God, And they plowed their furrows in prairie sod.

Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

Mitten Christmas

We called them "Mitten Christmases" Back there when we were young, For when the presents all were wrapped And stockings all were hung, There'd be no big surprises For we knew that in each box Were things we need--like mittens.

Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

Collar's Hill

We bought the quarter forty years ago Because it joined our home place on the east. 'Twas mostly hill, a high and rocky dome, But there would be some grazing there at least.

Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

Willie

Willie'd never make a cowboy 'Least there didn't seem much hope; He couldn't stick a bucker And he couldn't throw a rope. He couldn't cut a heifer out, He couldn't man the chute, And when he held the vaccine gun Only God knew who he'd shoot.

Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

Going Through Calgary

We'd been on a trip, just the two of us, For almost a month without a fuss. We were sailing along like a southbound breeze To Calgary from Lake Louise. I was driving our diesel van And he had the map, so he could plan And easy route, if one could be found.

Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

Dakota Wind

The wind that's born on ountain tops, On desert wastes or far-off seas, When reaching the Dakota p lains Will blow perversely as it please. The breeze that brings the scent of flowers, Caresses the emerging grain, Will change to tempest overnight, Chill down new calves in icy rain.

Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

Indian Scout

He slithered stealthily along the bluff, Took off his hat and tousled up his hair, And bellied over to the edge to peer Between the stems of sagebrush growing there. The Indian encampment lay below Half-circled by the slow and muddy Grand, And by the painted lodges he could tell 'Twas old Chief Thunder Hawk's own band.

Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

Old Cowman

He was a big man lik the hills and sky, Compassion felt for all who crossed his path Except one breed of man and beast who faced His bitter anger and unyielding wrath.

Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

Store Candy

"Don't go," she said. "We'll do with what we have." She knew her words would be to no avail, He never understood her strange, fey fears Of spectral things that lurked beside the trail. She'd seen them in the storm the night before And though the wind had hushed now and the snow No longer slid in sibilant whispers, still she knew That they were waiting. "Please don't go!"

Crazy Quilt: A Patchwork of New and Collected Poems

FC 11 E-21

Elizabeth Ebert

Riding Free

It seems each drug store cowboy And each rhinestone wanna-be Extols the virtues of the West And the joys of "Riding Free." They'll trot out in the summer, But just on sunny days, On gentle nag with rented tack To watch the cattle graze.