Being compared to Baxter Black, the “finest poet ever to chisel words in the book of life” is quite an accolade, Jerry & gentlemen. I thank you.
I reckon I have gone from poet-warrior to poet-cowboy. Now if I can only overcome my Equinophobia, I might be able to live up to those high expectations.
After being bitten by one horse and thrown by another, I’m a bit squeamish (to use my ex’s word) to get back in the saddle again.
Annie O was a lot of things, but one thing she wasn't was squeamish. One day while she was "breaking and training" a two-year-old horse, he ended up breaking her. He bucked her off, and she landed hard on her shoulder and broke it in three places.
Being a real buckaroo, that evening she went back to the horse farm with a sling on her arm and rode the same horse to show prospective customers. That’s my ex-Annie Oakley.
For those who don’t know Baxter Black, he’s a former large animal veterinarian turned poet-columnist. Large animal veterinarian practice is very underserved in the US so he wants to see Large Animal Only (equine and food animal) veterinarian programs started here, which would be allowed to actively recruit globally, using the same strict scholastic prerequisites as small animal veterinarian programs, but with no out-of-country financial penalties or restrictions.
He said that foreign born graduates would be more willing to become large animal veterinarians, because they wouldn’t think that the work was too hard and paid too little like most American veterinarian students do.
I admire his pragmatism and his openness to foreign-born workers in the US. Not all poet-cowboys are that open-minded. Many would like to believe that all their ancestors came over on the Mayflower.
I will leave you with some self-penned cowboy poetry, with an updated environmental twist.
Ridin’ down the highway, smoke gets up my nose
Think I’ll roll up the windows, before I overdose
Smokestacks pouring black clouds, high into the sky
If I don’t see the country soon, I know I’m going to die
‘Cause that Pennsylvania Turnpike makes my olfactories burn
Tears in my eyes, got my doctor so concerned
And I find myself, just longing for, that sweet smell of manure
*cowboy lyrics copyrighted 2010 by Brocknroller Muzak
Happy trails to you until we meet again,
Brock
