RODEO
NOT MY FIRST RODEO
There were things he could only say to a horse in silence
He was oveja negra through and through What jewish
girl from the burbs has a father who is a real cowboy? I do
Did
Took me to my first rodeo where the love of my 5 yr. old life
Mark from The Rifleman rode giant dung smeared bulls Dad
why are the bulls covered in .. He later bought me a ring with
my name inscribed Still fits smallest digit
The carnival atmosphere of this life has not diminished one bit
Today a roofer named Rob large+bitter tried to lure me onto
the toppermost roof of the leaking stucco townhouse I co-own
I’m afraid of heights Rob just glared
I don’t think I will give him the $17,500 he demanded Rob said:
It’s not a question anymore of repair It’s about REPLACE How
about restore Rob? Restore the discs in my neck Restore the glory
days when parents aced mental status tests If a snake is 6 ft. from
head to tail how long is it from tail to head? Fuck you! father screamed
Replace: the painted carnival whores the smarmy psychiatrists One who
did push ups in her front hall +over billed OHIP before they were allowed
to He was likely 1/2 in love with her Replace: the scaffolding The edifice
is creaky +we’re spending the treasure to restore a version of the story that
never existed to begin with
The one where the nuclear family survives! So what was it that killed the nuclear
family in the first place? The industrial revolution? Television? The Pill? Does it
matter? For when one is the last woman standing after the numberless deaths of
her kin it is beyond hard to get the hang of it (Psychiatrists with notepads Take note)
__
But a dog who’s been beaten
is slow to go back to happy barking
– and that’s an animal, not a person.
(Adelia Prado Divine Wrath 1987
Lifetime Achievement Award
Griffin Poetry Prize 2014)
Summer 2017
songanddancegirl 