Smells of the Corrals
Tag Archives: Horses
Three Draft Horses
Technology
Great Uncle Tony and Uncle Werner at seeding time – a long time ago
Why the Long Face?
In honor of Farmer’s Day
Uncle Tony and Cousin Werner at seeding time a long time ago. 
CHILDREN HAVE
CHILDREN HAVE
Children have a great sense of smell
Maybe that’s why
their diapers make them cry
their first
breast sends them
on a lifelong quest
and a cinnamon bun
can stop us all in the mall
On a farm there’s hay
before it goes into the cow
and hay when it comes out
The pungency of pig, the foul of fowl
Rain before the first drop falls
and the whip of lightning after it cracks
Smoke on dad’s clothes from the prairie fire
snuff from the round box cutting his shirt
The dog, even wet, not diminished in love
If lost in a blizzard, or in the dark
it is always best to let go of the reins
so the horse’s nose can point you home
Lost in the world at four a.m.
twice blessed if yours can do the same
LITTLE BROWN JUG
LITTLE BROWN JUG
My father had three sons
and taught them all
how to tie a grain sack, how to cut a calf
how to talk to a horse you walked up behind
so you wouldn’t get kicked or killed
Good things to know
but none of us are working cattle now
He played a mean harmonica
would that he would have taught us that
TABBY LA ROSA
TABBY LA ROSA
Horses are cats
they just want to be
petted and loved
Although
when you neglect to do so
they are much more likely
to send you flying
than piss on your best Persian rug
That sort of thing is reserved for cats
and cats are not horses
and deeply resent
being ridden
as every toddling two year old
in history (unable to read history)
will have to have etched
on the blank slates of their skin
HAWAII FIVE OH
HAWAII FIVE OH
It was so damn beautiful
It could have been an
ad for anything
A young man and a beautiful
young woman, hair streaming
over soft well-tanned neck
gallop along a deserted
white-sand Oahu beach
They wouldn’t include
in the thirty second ad
how very hard the cowboy
from Canada is trying to
impress the Island maid
How many thousands of acres
How many broncs he has rode
How she had given him
the eighteen hand Hunter to ride
and how they had left the silly
English saddles behind
How good he feels about himself
as the sand kicks up from hooves
how pride goeth before a….
rogue wave crashing at their feet
And the big horse spooking
and the cowboy’s instincts doing
everything right, if he had been
neck-reining a quarter horse
and everything wrong on this one
Who goes left while he goes right
right out from under
With nothing but gravity
between him and
where his butt meets
the wet hard sand
The visible bruise
lasts a week or two
The therapy is taking
a little longer
THE POETRY READING
THE POETRY READING
The secret to hauling horses
is to step on the gas fast
hit the brakes hard
then the gas
again
A few rounds of that
and their feet
are far apart
and well set
You can pretty much
do what you like
for the rest of the trip