A DIFFERENT KIND OF DANCE: A COWBOY POEM by Lynette Tucker

The ponies stamp and snort

In the cool morning air.

I lay my loop on a shaggy one,

A brown spotted mare.

Now, she’s a good one

‘Bout as steady as they go.

Time to round up the baldies;

I tighten the latigo.

The mare’s head bobs

As we head out on the trail.

She bounces the bit on my knee,

Fusses, sidesteps, swishes her tail.

“Now easy there, Missy.”

I pat her neck,

“Why, we’re almost there.

No sense in all this dancin’,

On a day so light and fair.”

The mare continues to two-step,

A swish. A sashay,

It’s been quite a while since I hit the dirt,

I’m hoping it’s not today.

But she humps up her back,

and jumps at least a mile high,

The answer buzzes past my face,

As she leaps into the sky.

This buckin’ bronco brought to you,

By the courtesy of your local horse fly.