By The prompt for this week was Cowboy Poetry. This style of poetry originates in the American west and is fairly fluid in style with a loose rhyme scheme. In all the research I did for this prompt, the only consistent thing that I could find is that Cowboy Poetry shares elements of Epic poetry because they both came out of oral tradition. The original cowboy poems might have been spoken around a fire.
If you are interested in Cowboy Poetry and want to research it yourself, below are the resources I used:
I am always pleasantly surprised, and I shouldn’t be surprised anymore, on how club member rise to the occasion when I give odd or difficult(ish) prompts. This prompt resulted in some absolutely beautiful poems and some really heartfelt ones. I may have to include some in our next zine is people are willing.
I hope you enjoy my short cowboy poem. It is based off a true story and the pictures are, I think, from that trip. Have you ever read any cowboy poetry? If so, what did you think? Let me know in the comments.
Mountain Storm
There is little better than sitting next to a campfire and watching the sun sink slowly below the horizon after a long day on the trail.
A cold beer goes down easy after climbing off a horse but it only earned after your mount is taken care of: unsaddled, washed, brushed, fed, and given a dose of electrolytes.
I love exploring on the back of a horse or mule.
Seeing places most don’t: fording rivers, climbing mountains, sleeping under the stars deep into the backcountry.
I’ve ridden up over a ridge, high above treeline in the Rockies.
The sky before us black, thunder rolling across the open tundra in the space between us and the tempest.
Catty-corner across the valley sat an old miners cabin.
Have you ever raced a storm?
Tried to outrun lightning?
It’s terrifying and exhilarating, facing nature, knowing you can’t win.
Knowing that all you can do is get out of its way.
Our mounts, our pack animals, they were solid, handling everything that we and mother nature, could throw at them.
Don’t ride a good horse hard and put them up wet then expect them to carry you as well as they did the day before.
Take care of them, they take care of you.
And then sit back with that beer and watch the day turn to dusk.
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McGee Travel Tales 