Do you really have to ride horses regularly to wear cowboy boots? Do you have to be mending fences or herding cattle to love a good cowboy hat? This Typewriter Rodeo poem questions the meaning of “real” cowboy.
Who you callin cowboy?
heres to the true few
who rattle about the hats
with no cattle
horses roaming unsaddled
strangers taking your titles
Does Texas or Tejas
not have friendship as its motto?
Is there not enough free range to share?
I dare
anyone, everyone to earn those spurs
by spurring on camaraderie, as it were
by lassoing with love
as your neighborhood grows
welcoming new pastures
and horizons unknown
in fact,
can you call yourself a cowboy
if youve never done that?
Typewriter Rodeo airs each Friday on Texas Standard. Send us your ideas for a poem on Facebook or Twitter, or send us an email.
Typewriter Rodeo is also available anytime in podcast form.
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