I dont know Bill, I get it, but just who stampedes in that penultimate stanza…?
Poem as thought experiment, ignoring historical war movies, for example…?
Doug
> On Mar 7, 2018, at 5:01 AM, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Some hurt, Patrick. Les Murray, Australian poet said something like ‘Poetry
> is easy. You just take off your head, boil it up on the stove for hours,
> then put it back on before you go to bed.’
>
> Bill
>
> On Wed, 7 Mar 2018 at 10:52 pm, Patrick McManus <
> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> like 'no poets were hurt making this anthology'
>>
>>
>> On 07/03/2018 11:15, [log in to unmask] wrote:
>>> Like it Bill but you forgot where they have to pretend to die. No
>>> animals were hurt in the making of this film?
>>>
>>> John
>>>
>>>> ----Original Message----
>>>> From: [log in to unmask]
>>>> Date: 06/03/2018 23:56
>>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> Subj: Horses
>>>>
>>>> Have no say
>>>>
>>>> in whether they want
>>>>
>>>> to appear in Westerns.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Directors, actors, stuntmen
>>>>
>>>> - and women - do.
>>>>
>>>> It’s up to them. But horses -
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Think flooded river crossings,
>>>>
>>>> hauling laden wagons,
>>>>
>>>> full tilt range riding
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Up and down mountains
>>>>
>>>> of shifting stones. Horses,
>>>>
>>>> called to plough on
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> in all weathers,
>>>>
>>>> accepting with alacrity,
>>>>
>>>> sounds of shootouts,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> roped into collapsing
>>>>
>>>> under cowboy weight,
>>>>
>>>> falling from great heights
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> into raging rivers,
>>>>
>>>> onto dusty prairies,
>>>>
>>>> or snowy plains.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Whipped by stage drivers,
>>>>
>>>> urged into burning saloons,
>>>>
>>>> crashing through windows.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> But without horses: pals,
>>>>
>>>> confidantes, muscled movers,
>>>>
>>>> where would your Western be?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> OK, there’d still be corrals, stampedes,
>>>>
>>>> batwing-doored saloons, robbed banks,
>>>>
>>>> six shooters, main street gunfights.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> But somewhere, tension must gallop.
>>>>
>>>> Horses, salute them.
>>>>
>>>> Hi Ho Silver!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> bw
>>>>
>>
Douglas Barbour
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https://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/
Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations & Continuations 2 (UofAPress).
Recording Dates (Rubicon Press).
Listen. If (UofAPress):
the way of what fell
the lies
like the petals
falling drop
delicately
Phyllis Webb
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