Best Earp Poems
Some modern folks, when they hear his name,
will roll their eyes and look ashamed,
thinking the cowboy is uncivilized,
with his hats, and guns, and round-up rides.
That somehow they are beyond the stuff,
to good for the wild, and the rough,
following some unwritten ‘elite’ law,
suppressing the urge to shout ‘yee-haw!’
But I think when it all is said and done,
cowboys are truly made of awesome…
Riding swift across the wide-open plains,
coat flapping behind like your horse’s mane,
maneuvering a large and panicked herd,
turning a stampede with iron nerves,
rough-hewn men cooking by the firelight,
coyote chorus yips through the night,
knowing that for all the wind and grit,
it sure beats sitting in an office.
A battered hat worth more than any pearl,
grabs the attention of the cowgirls,
boots that announce you in any room,
be you a mere hand, or fancy bride-groom.
Leather vests that dress up any shirt,
and somehow can even make fringe"work,
a bandana or a wild rag,
with a thousand uses, not a mere fad.
The tell-tale jangle comes from your spurs,
vast coat made out of buffalo fur.
Square-dance, line-dance, twirl a girl around,
to fiddle and steel guitar’s sound,
campfire songs to entertain the kids,
harmonicas to sing the blues with,
teaching the folks to throw a lasso,
then breaking out tricks with swirling rope.
Living life by a strong honor code,
one that good people would do well to know.
Wyatt Earp and his famous revenge ride,
Masterson cut Dodge City down to size,
Doc Holliday gambling with a death wish,
Billy the Kid, criminal, yet tragic,
Wild Bill holding those aces & eights,
and old Kit Carson, out blazing the way,
Buffalo Bill brought the people a dream,
and who can forget, the legend Bass Reeves?
A six-gun at ready, holster right side,
the lines of a Winchester, ever sublime.
Ranches that sprawl on mountain and prairie,
riding the trails where man can breath free,
rampaging rodeo, those guns are fun,
and damn can those barrel-racers run!
Living out of doors, by both skill and luck,
be it on a horse or a pick-up truck,
It’s clear that when all is said and done,
that cowboys are truly made of awesome.
Categories:
earp, america, appreciation, celebration, fun,
Form:
Cowboy Poetry
Lord what I'd give to go back in time.
Meet historical legends Wyatt Earp,
Or Jessie James, let them leap off
The written page, and live again.
Rough riders, shooting the colt 45,
Learning swiftness by the draw.
Badges brethren, gather up,
The madman’s posse,
Gun powders equalizers,
In there bloody hands.
Wanted men, flee to,
Parts unknown,
Horse thieves, and
Cattle rustlers,
Trying to evade the long,
Arm of the law.
Fate decides whom lives,
And dies.
It makes no difference,
Innocent or guilty.
After all it is life’s truest rule,
An eye for an eye, blood shed,
To give the devil his vengeance,
Behold survival of fittest,
Heavens gates, are made from,
Twisted metal.
The hangman's tree stands ready,
Hollow nooses swing in,
Destiny’s winds,
To bid found ado unto evil men.
Strong limbs bare heavy weight,
A scaled balance of ropes,
Tenuous strength.
Blind lady liberty turns,
Her gaze away.
At histories hesitation towards,
Real justice's justification.
Hard men ride ahead,
Leaving behind
Legends tin stars,
Amongst trail dust,
Remnants.
Behold the old west breath's,
Again,
Between books binding,
And words harsh black ink.
Hardened steel vs. freedoms,
Expansion.
BY: CHERYL ANNA DUNN
Categories:
earp, death, fantasy, freedom, imagination,
Form:
Free verse
Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp
knew how to snag a gun totin' perp,
loved the ladies, but never liquor.
He was a habitual ice cream licker!
For Kim's Cleri-who? Contest, 5/31/15
Categories:
earp, history, silly,
Form:
Clerihew
“Cambodia is
Cambodia but not really
Cambodia.”
That’s what some say
As the years roll on
Forty years or so since Pol Pot and his pals posted
‘Year 0”,
Sent the whole thing to the wash,
And it came out
Red.
So now I recline on
Sun built beaches
Night into Day
Sandwiched between gaggles of
I-pod armed youth
Just escaped from a
Lifelong sentence,
At least for a summer,
Dazzling at spectacle like
Fire girls twirling Prometheus though
Black holes in moonlit nights
Starless
Sipping
50 cent beer
While the unmistakable drift of
Marijuana
And Xanadu
Sifts my senses into
Now.
While on the hill
There lies a Frenchman,
Freshly stabbed,
Epee-like
By a speed crazed barmaid
On a pockmarked lane where
Money meets desire
In the still born heat
Of an Asian night
Falling.
.
Which makes me reconnoiter
Deadwood and Dodge
Earp and James
When law went desperate
Beneath a hangman’s noose
And the certain pall
Of afternoon death lay
Reeling
In the century or so since
The requiem.
But can this be their
Cote d’Azur as
Newly dubbed Khmer warriors like
Sable Palms
Surge skywards beside the
Sensual rhythm of
Casuarina trees
Purging the past to conjure
Bygone glory a
Millennium or so ago
At a place just up the road named
Angkor Wat
Soon to be renamed
Disneyland Cambodia?
Jeff Troyer (2009)
Categories:
earp, travel
Form:
Free verse
It’s way back in the eighties, of the eighteenth century,
the bad man Johnny Ringo, did stalk Arizona free,
from Lukeville to Sonoro, he dealt his darkest hand,
and sought to take the silver, from outlawed Mexican band
With Curly Bill and Scott Corley, he ambushed smuggler’s
band, their heavy bags of silver, sure lookin kinda grand,
gunshots smoked the many, some were kept for sport,
tortured in the hot sun, without a kindred thought
Now Ringo took to spendin, his gotten gains with glee,
and tabled games of poker, he played while he was free
but Wyatt Earp got wind of him, or so the story goes,
and shot him thru the head one day, sleepin peacefully
Now many’s took the claim, for shootin Johnny thru,
but others say he took his life cos drinkin made him blue,
and if you want to see the place, they laid his body down,
he’s in West Turkey Valley, on the other side of town
Categories:
earp, dark, evil, history,
Form:
Cowboy Poetry
I have sworn off women
but I can't control my dreams
Beyoncé and Rihanna are trying to corrupt me
At least that's the way it seems .
The skimpy outfits they were wearing
Took away my breath
and on a winters night like this
I thought they might freeze to death.
They told me they would soon warm up
and what they were going to do
I know women have no stamina
but at least I'm getting two.
Now I'm a confident sort of guy
With a very open mind
but even I was shocked by their knowledge
Of a very carnal kind .
Then they started calling me Wyatt Earp
I thought my peacemaker must be so long, hard and slick
Beyoncé said , Don't kid yourself honey
Its because you shoot so quick .
Women .
Even in dreams they have to have the last word.
Categories:
earp, funny,
Form:
Verse
Heat waves dancing atop the freshly laid pavement
Sun burning up skin and crimping our eyes
Flies trying to get in, but I can't save them
Poor little guys can't event realize
Let me welcome everybody to the wild southwest
A state where Wyatt Earp made history
Cities named after the end stone of our mess
Birdcage Theatre forever filled with mystery
Grand Canyons, red rocks, and cacti for days
Amerindian patches etched on the walls
Remembering the place my ancestors stayed
Walk out to go in and hear bald eagles call
Welcome one and all to the place with rays of gold
With one star on our flag, your knowledge is sold
The legendary land which until seen can only be told
Like our people, the state which can never be cold
Categories:
earp, identity, pride,
Form:
Free verse
Up in Sh*t Creek up his own fat butthole
the law is an ass and he’s out of control.
He calls himself sheriff
but I just call him Griff
and he’s a real fuktard and a fugly troll!
Like all coward trolls he’s just a mother
but thinks he’s Wyatt Earp, O’ brother!
Tom and all the townsfolk
up his fat ass blow smoke…
gun in one hand and dick in the other!
Written: September 2022
*Dedicated to my most obsessed troll.
He’s Peter Griffin with a badge!
****
Categories:
earp, fun, humorous,
Form:
Limerick
I was watching the TV the other day
When a certain Rerun began to play.
It brought me back to one of my brain's stifled bans
Because it was about Lucas McCain...the Rifleman.
All of a sudden I was drenched by a flood
of Western Shows that have been long since dead.
I'll just begin with a few you may remember
Like Marshall Dillon - later Gun Smoke as it came on one September.
But I remember The Cisco Kid
and how Poncho always did what he did
we can't forget the masked stranger
who of course turned out to be The Lone Ranger
Then there was Wyatt Earp, Cimmaron Strip, and Rawhide too,
The Guns of Will Sonnet and a Wagon Train rumbling through.
Will anyone ever forget Paladin in Have Gun - Will Travel
or Trackdown or Wanted Dead or Alive with Josh Randall?
Can we ever forget The Big Valley,
or the Ponderosa's size when Bonanza came on the tele.
There were Tales of Texas Rangers and even an F Troop,
Let's not forget Rin Tin Tin and how down on the bad guys he'd swoop.
I still can see Lash Larue and Hopalong Cassidy with his black hat
There were Three Mesquiters to watch when I sometimes sat.
Do you remember Yancy Derringer and his friend Pahoo
or Johnny Yuma, The Rebel who never yelled "Yahoo"!
Maverick, Sugarfoot, and Cheyenne were favorites of mine
There are too many more here for me to rhyme.
Many a big star began on that little screen
If it hadn't been for the Westerns...What would they have been?
It can be fun thinking about some of those shows
Because they are a part of TV nostalgia as everyone knows.
They have come and gone like the heroes they'd portray
I remember the Westerns...and their horse's neigh.
Categories:
earp, hero, memory, remember, tribute,
Form:
Rhyme
Take my heart to Tombstone,
Away from hill and tree,
Sell my horse to injuns
But give the saddle free
Outside haunts a spectre,
He has his eye on me, so
Take my heart to Tombstone,
And hang it from a tree
Blood and friendship’s now
Long gone, only rivers run
True free, so take my heart
To Tombstone, OK Coral
For me
Put my gun behind the bar
The bullets and the belt,
If a bad man passes by
Hot lead he should be dealt
And if one evening’s scented
Breeze a whippoorwill calls new,
remember me, proud Wyatt Earp,
with six-gun justice true
Categories:
earp, history, obituary,
Form:
Cowboy Poetry
It was the start of a decade not to be forgotten.
It was my growing up period. A very bad year for me
in many ways. My last year of Jr. High I was kicked out
for smoking in boy's restroom. Then a few months later
I was kicked out again in my first of high school,
smoking on school property as the Vice-Principal was
waiting for me out side of door way, as I lit up, there he
was. My dog shep died just before school started.
After those things it was a great year. Some great
TV shows were on that year, the debut of the Andy
Griffith show with good old Barney Fife as his deputy.
Then there was the Jack Benny Show, My Three Sons,
and Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp and many more.
The Pittsburt Pirates defeated the New York Yankees in
Seven games in a huge upset. The Eagles upset the
Green Bay Packers in the NFL Title Game, this was way
before the Super Bowl. Movies coming our way were
Psycho a very scary movie. David Jansen made a movie called
"Ring of Fire", where he played a Deputy Marshall overpowered by
these two escaped convicts and this girl, they took him hostage,
up into the Oregon Forest, this fire breaks out creating a lot of drama.
John F. Kennedy was elected our President, I was too young to vote for
him, but if elected again I was going to vote for him. This was before i
became a Republican, but then came November 22, 1963 changed all of that.
My friend Danny and I started our 3rd year working at the Iowa State Fair
as ticket takers on the midway. That fall him and I went to our
first sock hop at our new school East High, we didn't dance with anyone,
we went to look at the pretty girls, us being too shy to talk with them.
Our football team had a great season with a 6-2 record. They won the big
six conference and the City Championship. I really miss going to those
high school football games.
Music was starting to go downhill for me, until Chubby Checker came
out with the song "The Twist" then later came the Beach Boys and Dion
was great. Was so young in 1960 i had my whole life in front of me,
now most of it is behind me. But those were great times.
Written 8-18-11
Categories:
earp, nostalgia, school, football, life,
Form:
Free verse
There is no Sunday west of St. Louis
And no God that’s west of Ft. Smith—
So says the frontier adage that’s truest
And confirms the last Old West myth.
Wild Bill Hickok had him a dead man’s hand—
They found John Ringo ‘neath a tree.
Billy the Kid was shot where he did stand—
They never found Butch Cassidy.
Jesse was shot unarmed by a young creep,
Belle Starr was shot-gunned in the back—
Wyatt Earp died years later in his sleep
And the Dalton boys all got whacked.
Dirty Dave Rutabaugh did lose his head,
Doc Holliday died of TB—
And Wyatt Earp shot Curly Bill stone dead,
But what became of “Buckskin” Leslie?
John Wesley Hardin was shot in a bar—
Frank James lived to a ripe old age.
Cole Younger wrote down most of his memoir,
Buffalo Bill soon was the range.
Now west of St. Louis Sundays do thrive
And west of Ft. Smith they’ve found God—
But the frontier is no longer alive
And the Old West is a smile and a nod.
Categories:
earp, angst, cowboy-western, history, nostalgia,
Form:
Cowboy Poetry
Monmouth, Illinois
Wyatt Earp was born right there
Can that be OK?
Categories:
earp, history, people, travel,
Form:
Haiku
The Darkness at Noon
Tombstone never looked so good
With doomsday coming down
On the dusty Arizona town
The OK Corral near by
The Clanton-McLaury gang on hand
With no one else about
The Earp boys in the wings
Thinking things out
Doc Holliday also in tow for the show
The darkness at noon began
Guns rang out
30 seconds flew by and 30 shots fired
2 cowpokes fell to the ground expired
Justice prevailed that afternoon
Though darkness shadowed the mood
A legend began that cold dark day
When noon turned into night
In old Tombstone
(Darkness at noon contest en
Categories:
earp, celebrity, history, nostalgia, strength,
Form:
Epic
He starred in 'Move Over Darling', 'Grand Prix' and other flicks.
He was James Garner and sadly, he died at the age of eighty-six.
He starred as Wyatt Earp in 'Hour Of The Gun'.
Six years later he starred in 'One Little Indian'.
He starred in a cameo in 'Alias Jesse James'.
Many years later he starred in 'Skin Game'.
In 1960, he starred with Natalie Wood in 'Cash McCall'.
Three years later he starred as Doctor Boyer in 'The Thrill Of It All'.
He worked with Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman and Dennis Weaver and that was
cool.
This talented man also starred in television shows, one of which was '8 Simple
Rules'.
He had charm that his fans couldn't resist.
Now Garner is dead and he will be missed.
[Dedicated to James Garner (1928-2014) ho died on July 19, 2014.]
Categories:
earp, death, dedication, farewell, tribute,
Form:
Rhyme