Saturday, February 27, 2016

TOPIC #2 A Cowboy's Tune


A Cowboy’s Tune


My bridle’s in the dirt.

My saddle squeaks all day.


I want to see the barn

And give this horse some hay.


Lonely is the life of

A cowboy in the rain.


I’d be an engineer

if I used but half my brain.


The mountains on the left

The river on the right.


The cattle in the meadow;

We’ll rest here for the night.


I pull my bed roll,

Store the tack,


Take off my spurs and

Hit the sack.


The stars are shining.

The coyotes howl.


I hear the hoot

Of a very wise old owl.


The morning comes…

The clouds are hanging low.


There is frost on the ground.

I hope it doesn’t snow.


I stretch really hard.

Then, much to my surprise,


Someone’s looking down at me!

So I look right in their eyes,


And discover that my Mother

Was holding me on her lap!


I was only dreaming

While taking a little nap!


--- Sigh ---


Well that’s ok…

I hope I didn’t snore.


The cattle can wait…

Because I…am…only…four.


As noted in the “History of Grandpa’s Unplanned Poems” the beginning of this poem just happened, and then stopped when the little cowboy ‘hit the sack’.  I felt that since nothing else came, the poem was completed, and I was sad, because I would have thought it would be fun to explore the Wild, Wild West and have many cowboy adventures in the course of an extended poem.
About a year after the poem happened, I awoke at 4 o’clock in the morning and knew that I had something to write… and came to realize that it was the Cowboy’s tune. I was very excited to see what would happen during the great adventures. As you can see, the cowboy was in a very safe place and did not have an adventure, which is probably good, because, as you already know, he/she is only four years old. The Wild, Wild West will have to wait.

Here is the video I created with the help of a cattle drive video from the UX Ranch. I hope you enjoy it!  

TOPIC #1 Elbows


elbows

Would you like to eat some elbows,

in the summertime?


The story’s told that pepper and salt

makes them taste real fine.


They say to munch them on the left

and nibble them on the right…


Eat them with a fork and

eat them day and night!


If you’d like some elbows

here’s a place to look;


They’re not up in the cupboard and

they’re not found in a book.


The very best tasting elbows

are all around you see.


They are closer than you know and

they’re found on you and me.


Good elbows are hard to find but

can be spotted from a tree.


They are more difficult to get to and

are smaller than your knee.


So if you raise your little arms

and lift them in the air,


You’ll find some tasty elbows

waiting for you up there.


They’re half way to your fingers

well before the end.


They hang out on the arm

just opposite the bend.


If you want to make your elbows

yummy for some lick’in


Please fold them up just like so

and flap them like a chicken!


Before we end this silly song

let’s sit down on the floor.


And eat some delicious elbows

before they run out the door.


No need to cook or soak them

or sprinkle them with lime.


Your very own baby elbows

are tasty every time.


The only trouble we’re facing,

before we have a bite,


Is that our yummy yummy elbows

are stuck so very tight.


It’s impossible to get them

close enough to have a chew.

I guess we’ll need to settle for

a big bite of your left shoe!



Topic by Olea (4 years old)

The Story Behind Grandpa’s Unplanned Poems





2015 Grandma & Grandpa with all the grandchildren

It all started in the afternoon of November 2nd, 2009. It was a Monday.   Grandma and I were visiting grandchildren in the wide open spaces of Utah, in the western part of the United States.  Somehow the topic of ‘Elbows’ came up as I was having fun with the grandchildren. Then, without warning, the beginning of a poem started to pop into my brain. I said it out loud, and soon, the little “poem seed” grew as the children suggested new parts to add. It was great fun!   The unplanned poem went home with me, and I finished it over the next several months.  I call it TOPIC #1... the first poem I remember writing.

Saturday, September 20th, 2014 was the day it happened again... in the same place, with an even larger assembly of grandchildren. Walking across a parking lot I noticed that a horse was kept just on the other side of a wire fence. My eyes spotted a bridle... on the ground...in... the... dirt.  YIKES!   My mind quickly worked out a plan to fix this BIG PROBLEM.

I thought “I will take Anakha-Marie (12 years old) over to the front door and ask the people living there if we could help them by washing  the bridle and bring it right back to them”. With that plan in mind, I  looked at Anakha-Marie, and what came out of my mouth was a great surprise... it was a poem... about a Cowboy!  At that very moment, TOPIC #2 happened with no warning at all!

Anakha-Marie said “WoW!! Write that down!!!”. So, being obedient to women with authority, I jotted it down on the way to her home, and then handed it over with this teasing exclamation, “OK... here is what you asked for..  It’s all your fault. This never happens to me unless I am around you guys!” Anakha-Marie was not startled at all, but calmly looked up at me and said matter-of-factly “No Grandpa. It is not OUR FAULT... all you need is a TOPIC.” She then placed her index finger on her chin, looked up in the air and said, just like Mrs. Griggs, my sixth grade teacher giving an assignment; “COOKIES!” She handed me a blank piece of paper and said “Go For It!”.

I was STUNNED!  Write a poem on demand?  A poem about Cookies?  This was going to be impossible. My brain was afraid, but I sat down, wrote COOKIES at the top of the paper and then.. TOPIC #3 happened.  As soon as “COOKIES” was on the paper, the lines of the poem started flowing and I wrote as fast as I could to keep up so as to not miss anything.  I then read the completed poem and was very surprised indeed. Perhaps it was true... all I needed was a topic!

After returning home, I shared TOPIC #2 and TOPIC #3 with some children at church. Before I could escape, I saw index fingers on their chins, and TOPIC #4, TOPIC #5 and TOPIC #6 were assigned to me. As before, I wrote the topic at the top, and each poem flowed out as quickly as ever.  This same process has now happened so many times in the last few weeks that I just received (and wrote) TOPIC #24   #47..

I will ever be amazed at the inspiration I receive from my wonderful grandchildren, and other children I have had the good fortune to meet around the world. I thank each one of you for helping me, and my brain, overcome the fear of sitting down and writing about my assigned  topic.

I invite each child, each parent and each grandparent to spend some together, give each other topics, write what pops into your brains, and share stories about your families. It all starts with a topic, and with the courage to write down what comes to mind.

Please keep me up to date on your adventures!

Grandpa