Login
|
Join PoetrySoup
Home
Submit Poems
Login
Sign Up
Member Home
My Poems
My Quotes
My Profile & Settings
My Inboxes
My Outboxes
Soup Mail
Contest Results/Status
Contests
Poems
Poets
Famous Poems
Famous Poets
Dictionary
Types of Poems
Videos
Resources
Syllable Counter
Articles
Forum
Blogs
Poem of the Day
New Poems
Anthology
Grammar Check
Greeting Card Maker
Classifieds
Quotes
Short Stories
Member Area
Member Home
My Profile and Settings
My Poems
My Quotes
My Short Stories
My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder
Soup Social
Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us
Member Poems
Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Random
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread
Member Poets
Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest
Famous Poems
Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100
Famous Poets
Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War
Poetry Resources
Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetics
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter
Email Poem
Your IP Address: 216.73.216.246
Your Email Address:
Required
Email Address Not Valid.
To Email Address:
Email Address Not Valid.
Required
Subject
Required
Personal Note:
Poem Title:
Poem
Riding against the wind, merciless memories nipping at her heels wearing a Pollyanna mask & a ready laugh to hide the hurt she feels The stinging words she heard that day hammer her heart like driving rain she sips thunder & lightning from a bottle but she can’t escape the pain Rodeo has held her in its spell for all of her nineteen years Its taught her to make friends with danger & never shrink from fear Gave her a healthy respect for a life well lived & showed her its rewards She’s better off for the lessons learned in the back chutes & stockyards She thought she was well prepared for any hand that Rodeo dealt Until that fateful phone call, a worse pain she’s never felt She’d given her heart to a wild Bullrider, a good man through & through Family, friend or stranger, he gave the best to all he knew Around midnight the night before, he’d left for an exhibition ride one last promise to fulfill before starting a new life with his bride she’d spoke to him early that morning, a quick “I love you” & “Good Luck” By quarter past ten he was in the chute, shouting “throw the gate & let ‘em buck” Three jumps & a crazy eight twist, the rigging split with a sickening snap In seconds his life ended, silence roared through the arena like a thunderclap The phone was ringing back in Tucson as she pulled up to the house The caller spoke in monotone igniting a fire never to be doused She still love’s the Rodeo, still answer its bittersweet call and she keeps his rigging bag in the closet down the hall She grew up quick in an eight second flash & paid her Rodeo dues Now she’s riding hard against the wind & singing the Rodeo Blues (c) August 2003
CAPTCHA Preview
Type the characters you see in the picture
Required