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

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'

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

just Like a Chinook

She come on strong and warm and totally unexpected. Just like a chinook during one a them long hard spine~cracking winters when even the stones groan. My spirit quivered. Been a while. You bury things deep in a spell like that and time takes time to thaw feelin' frozen deep as all that.

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

When Spring Breaks on the Prairie

When spring breaks on the prairie when calves start comin''round when crocus fill the hillsides from the draws up to the crowns. When you get that lonesome yearnin' for a drift of new~mowed hay can the first warm breeze of summer really be that far away? You've gone through forty winters an' you plan on forty more

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

The Fence

When it comes to vexation and ire nothin' gets my dander higher than bein' out in the sticks tryin' to fix hun'erd~year~old strands a'wire. They criss cross in jumbles an'knots in places God's all but forgot. Hangin 'from posts that gave up the ghost way back when Valentino was hot. You can randomly pick any stretch of thirty odd feet an' you'll fetch

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

Yearlin' Heifers~Part I

How they love to go a neighborin', an' seek more scenic bits of range, I think, perhaps, they've joined some kind of herbivore exchange. (no matter)...Every clip had better be in place and hangin' tight and true. Best tap them staples extra good so the girls ain't slippin' through. Their whole reason for existence, til you get that hearlin' bull,

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

He Rides a Mellow Gelding Anymore

He rides a mellow gelding anymore. A good horse but not as spirited as before. An' that's just fine. 'Cause there comes a time when a fella grows tired of dirt. A taste~full here a face~full there. a back plumb full a'hurt. He figgers heck, he's paid his dues an' one more wreck, well, he'd hate to lose it all the way.

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

My Father's Horse

It must've been a day for peace an' reverie when my father took his pencil in his hand an' scribed upon his notebook all the horses that he'd had when growin' up in west Dakota land. I can see him sittin', thoughtful, soft smile in his eyes, as the ponies pranced before him, once again. Then he jotted each one down with a slow an' care full hand, sometimes, horses can count right up with kin.

Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory

FC 11 G-44

DW Groethe

This Old Post

This old post was cut an' cleaned an'carted up the river road when my great granddaddy was barely a shadow of the man my granddad knowed. He was young an' life was free for the takin'. Not free like it is today. No sir.. He drug this cedar, an' most of that line, from many a mile away.