Cowboy history and lore
Community cowpokes round up the prose
By DANA DUGAN
Express Staff Writer
Derek Williams, Latner
Straley, Tanner
Flanagan, and Lily Pidgeon in front of their cowpoke portraits at the
Community School. Express Photo by Dana DuGan.
Pat Stansberry’s third grade class at The Community
School spent part of this year studying cowboy history and lore. As a
result they wrote cowboy poetry, dressed up, and learned songs taught by
The Community School’s musical director Mary Poppen. Here are a few
nuggets from that performance last week:
Cowboy Poem
By Derek Williams
Howdy y’all. I am goin’ to tell you about a day in the
life of a cowboy.
When I git up in the morning I know I have a hard day
ahead.
I rise out of the bunk house and go the mess hall to grab
some grub and head out to round up them cattle.
I need to herd those cows to a grazing spot but where has
Dixon gone?
Oh that horse of mine, he is always wandering off.
There he is, right in the middle of the herd.
I hop on and we head out to the prairie fields so the
cattle can graze all day.
I do some brandin’ and ropin’ to help pass the time.
As the sun goes behind the mountains, I pitch my tent,
make a fire and open a can of beans.
I fall asleep dreaming of my family back at the ranch.
That’s a cowboy’s day!
Sally Sue and My ol’ Horse Buckaroo
by Delaney Willey
Early one frosty mornin’, me, Sally Sue, went to work
herdin’ on my chestnut horse Ol’ Buckaroo.
We headed out on a lonesome dusty trail to round up some
cattle.
My good ol’ horse Buckaroo is my best friend on that
long trail and the best horse in the wild west.
Suddenly out of nowhere we hear "a fiddle e’ de and
a fiddle e’ do."
All I could see was a big cactus so we galloped over to
the singin’ cactus and to my surprise there sat the darn fanciest cowboy
I ‘d ever layed eyes on.
I started singin to that ol’ fiddle and dancin’ a
little jig.
We sang and danced until the crack of dawn. I was too
tired to find my way home and I said to my horse ol Buckaroo, "can
you take me back to our old bunkhouse?"
So my horse turned us east into the sunrise and we started
a new day.
