FOLK COLLECTION 11: The Skaggs Foundation Cowboy Poetry Collection

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Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

November 24

Clouds. Sylphlike, lean wings seducing the moonhaze, from heaven's edge to snowcrust..quiet sleeps the wind in the passing sight, as the Lord of autumn fulfills his right to bring the slumber of winter's night.

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

The Moon is Falling

Walking one late night, November. An indigo sky so deep it defies the heart. Mid a litter of starspeck a slip of s sickle casts its pale offering.. enough..just enough to catchlight the frost drifting off the boughs of an old cedar.

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

Skoal

Standing off my porch, surrounded by the season's first blizzard, I raise my goblet. A scarlet heart of chokecherry wine, capturing a few wayward flakes, lost in their fury. Snow wine.

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

Solstice (Deep)

It has to start here or not all all. The final hour wich mourns the passing of light. Clinging to shadows, hallowed in the paths of the moon, the long night rises, surveys its domain, then nods never knowing its day has come.

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

Moonsong

There was the night she sang the moonsong. A melody so rich its like had not been heard since her great, great a~thousand~times~great, grandmother offered up the first prayer to her mother in the sky. IT was in the key of life and kept to the temp of a newborn's heart after first milk.

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

A Charlie Creek Christmas

It was Christmas in the Badlands an' the moon was shinin 'bright- so I figgered dear ol'Santa wouldn't need no exter light when the come across the prairie an 'down the coulees deep- to drop me off my presents while I was sound asleep-

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

Winter 1903

There lies Dakota Bleak, bitter cold. Home for the heart with an iron soul. Even the star gleam icy cold.. and listen to the wind blow. One lone cabin carved from sod leans in the prairie like a joke on God. and they don't talk any more 'n a nod.. and listen to the wind moan.

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

Out My Window

Out my window a gatherin' of clouds has hid the stars away and turned them to flakes- fat flakes- falling gently gently falling- onto the backs of the two bay mares. It's Christmas.

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

West River Waltz

And when I was young and knew only the day and thought not what the future might hold in its sway she took me and loved me, for all of my faults and set my soul soul swirling to the West River Waltz.

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

Down by the Willows

Down by the willows sweepin' soft on the waters where the wares slip in for a swallow moon was a~hauntin' an' coyote was a~flauntin' to any ol'bitch who would follow his wayward heart by the dark of the course where the crick ran back up the draw while the rest of the prairie woke an 'eased out wary

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

Fifty a Day (Broke, Tired and Blue)

Fifty a day is a cowboy's pay..it ain't much though for some it's enough. It's not always money that rides a man hard or acquirin' piles of stuff. There are those who would willingly trade it all in for a chance to go ridin' the herd. An' bein' out in the lonesome,

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

A Little Thing about Creepin' Jenny

It lurks in the garden with the beets an' the peases. Takes over anywhere it darn well pleases. Around the house across the yard, you'll never find nothin' that dies this hard. Nice little flowers that laugh in your face if you try an' stop 'em

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

Seven Tadpoles

Out north on the school section, sprayin' spurge, I stumble on a mud flat boilin' with frustration. Couple hundred tadpoles in a half inch of gumbo soup du jour. I grab a handful. Seven. Walk fifty maybe sixty feet to a slough with enough water for a short at life.

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

The Bunny Poem

Drivin' through the midnight hour clippin' down the trail, we was headin' back from Utah on the last leg of'r tale. Twenty hours ridin' hard from down the ol' southwest we was more'n plenty tired an''r brains was cravin' rest.

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

Midnight, Somewheres in August

I have camped out on this prairie a thousand summer nights and gazed deep in the faceless eyes of God as they stared down hard upon me from some lonesome stretch in time an'finally found their rest upon my shroud.

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

There's a Silence

There's a silence that's found as a hoof hits the ground when yer ridinn' alone in the night. An' the dust of the day has settled away an' yer glad that ol' moon has some light tho' you ain't ridin' blind 'cause yer pony'll find the rail that leads you back home.

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

And From This Hill: A Requiem

And from this hill you can see forever 'cross the deep green undulating grassland sea. And the sagging, listing hollow-eyed homesteads all weathered and gray. Like long~deserted ships of the line, sink ever so slowly out of time and into the prairie floor.

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

Bent

To the wind. Rough shod. Gnarled. Hide so leathered up it was hard to believe he could take one more lick. But by God could he. Just ask him. And you did not doubt his word. His heart burnt twice the fire of most men half his age. And the rest? Did not count.

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

Under The Dim and Nodding Sky

Under the dim and nodding sky 'mid the nighthawk's fading skree, bend your ear to the rush in the willows, that hush you hear is me. Up through the cottonwoods' murmuring leaves down round in a laughing swirl hovering close to the warm moist earth my whispering fingers unfurl and lightly gather each blade of grass 'til at last I come to thee and brush your cheek with lover's lips you can no longer see.

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

Let Me Tell You 'bout Weanin'

Let me tell you 'bout weanin' and the severin' of ties and them cows with their bellerin' lips fulla lies. They'll hang on that gate for a day, maybe two creatin' a ruckusin' hullabaloo. Then on a sudden no reason, no rhyme they stroll away thinkin', "Hell, that calf ain't mine." and never again so much utter a moo

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

The Novice

It haunts and it hangs on o're the heights like some gossamer spirit wound swiftly in flight reaching out to envelop then pull in half tight just to explode and then black into night. It follows through yellow and red and then green. Floats in and out of a source unseen that is at once violent sublime and serene and it beckons me closer, this unfolding scene.

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

Three Horses Waiting

Better finish wrappin 'boys, we gotta cut a trail. The day is swift be on slow go 'fore we hitch that evenin' rail. Like as not we'll get there fine but you know this time a year can bring a turn that's hard an' quick an' the weather's none too clear.

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

The Great Hay Yard Assault of '04 (The Sad State of Cowboy Job Security)

We fix the fence. They tear it down. We fix the fence. They tear it down. We electrify they leap an'fly we barricade they soon evade an' make a new door down the line. Ain't that just fine! 'cause now we start whole thing up again. We chouse the cows back out an' then we fix the fence.

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

The Feed Truck Blues

They say it used to be a Ford that when new was so adored was washed and even polished once a week. But as time went flittin' by a Chevy caught their eye an' the pickup's future went from bright to bleak. 'Cause they gave it to the kids who put the darn thing on the skids so fast a new trannie was a must.

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

Notes on the Clipper

Startled whispers, spirits in the snow, rush about the yard and sheds like sparrows on the go. A quiet blue foreboding lingers as you stare and you know what's comin' on 'cause you can feel it in the air. but you hold your breath and pray with every fiber of your bein'