A little bit of poetry - on writing, not tumbleweeds

I thought I might take up poetry

I thought it might be somewhat fun

It can’t be that hard if cowboys do it you see

All I need is some good stories and maybe a pun

The rhymes at first seem like they’d be tough

Just put your words together with love and care

Turns out making it rhyme ain’t all that rough

If it sounds too corny, wonder if I’ll dare to share

This column started out to be about a tumbleweed

Turns out I’d done that topic not so long ago

I checked it out and found it still a pretty good read

Turns out the best tumbleweed stories come after a good blow

With that idea blown I tried to think of a twist

Maybe a comical interview with a Russian thistle

This thought of a weed interview was moving top of the list

I’ll just step outside and start one up with a whistle

Alas, that’s not all that easy when the author has writer’s block

Seems that rascal never leaves enough time for this creative process

Midnight on deadline day approaches and the only movement is on the clock

And instead of sweating things he turns on the tube for a quick recess

Baxter Black once told me poetry was far from easy

He went on to spin a story as an unborn calf

If he got away with that one surely mine’s not too cheesy

If ole Bax can get ‘em rollin’ surely I can manage a laugh

I took pen in hand with very little time to spare

If I could figure this out, poetry could be my new game

My style would be keep it simple and just find a way to share

I can do this, I can do this and it’s only about half lame

Finally I’m through the paper and I have scarcely mentioned a tumbleweed

That’s apparently the way it goes with poetry, only use what you need

Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

[email protected]