rodeo

the kid rode for seven point three

before the bronc bucked him skyward

but his hand never came loose

 

tied as it was by a boy

who stuffed snuff in his lip

and said he was gonna win

 

the kid’s arm twisted like a rope

he ran, but that horse ran faster

and the boy fell under hooves

 

round they went, over manure,

dirt, skagweed, and shoe nails

the horse whipped him against cattle fence

 

men on ponies couldn’t stop that horse

finally a clown tackled it

and socked it one in the jaw

 

cut loose, the boy slid to the ground,

red cheeked, round mouthed,

a rag doll brought in from the cold

Published by

Patrick Dobson

Patrick Dobson was founded in 1962. He is a writer, scholar, ironworker, and poet who lives in Kansas City, MO. He is author of two books with the University of Nebraska Press, Seldom Seen: A Journey into the Great Plains (2009) and Canoeing the Great Plains: A Missouri River Summer (May 2015). Dobson is a work in progress until termination.

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