As a poet and fan of all the spoken word arts, I've learned to love cowboy poetry that's well done. I like to think of it as the edge effect. A marriage of English prosody and American colloquial speech. Being true to both is tricky.
I got to read several times with Peggy Godfrey of the San Luis Valley who always said "cowboy" is a verb. She managed to get her feminist leanings into real ranch stories and we all loved her at the old Sparrows Poetry Festival in Salida.
I first encountered John in David Rothman's anthology: The Geography of Hope -- Poets of Colorado's Western Slope (Conundrum Press, Crested Butte, 1998). Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer of Placerville, Luis Lopez of Grand Junction and I all appeared in that collection, along with several poet friends who have passed: Bruce Berger of Aspen, James Tipton of Fruita and Karen Chamberlain of Aspen.
I loved that David included John along with the rest of us poets. His "Word Wrangling" poem is a classic -- an encounter with a pedantic English "expert" poet and pack string word wranglin' John. It's funny and makes its point sharp as a needle in the thumb.
I caught up with John a few months back and he shared this new poem with me. And I'm proud to be sharing with you.
I’M GOIN’ SOMEDAY
Some days come and some days go
But someday never gets here.
Someday is just a dream away.
Someday is always next year.
Someday we’ll all go fishing.
I’m taking my family with me.
Heading to that lunker lake
Where the trophy is bound to be.
Someday we’ll raft the river
Or maybe paddle by canoe.
We’ll soak up fun and challenge.
There’s nothing we won’t do.
Someday I’m heading up north
Or maybe I’ll head west.
Take my son on that dream hunt
Where hunting is the best.
We’ll go by boat. We’ll go by plane
Or maybe mule or horse.
Somewhere where big game is big,
In the wilderness of course.
Someday I’ll win big in the lotto.
And when my ship comes in,
I’ll find the time. I’ll find the money.
I’ll be gone with the wind.
But, something says there’s work to do
And bills that must be paid.
That time and money can’t be found.
They both must be made.
So, the time had come for action.
Someday would soon be here.
I’d go for broke. I’d make my move.
I’d overcome my fear.
Then I called the man to set it up
And confirm our coming date.
He said, “Someday ’s been booked for years.
That we were way too late.”
It seems that everyone is going someday,
The most popular of days.
He suggested that I try firsts or seconds
of Junes, Julys or Mays.
And when I cursed in great frustration
He sensed that I turned red.
So, he agreed to confirm a date for me.
That someday I’d be dead.
And on that day we will all be together,
My family and my friends.
They’ll toast the times that could have been
And say their last amens.
They’ll say, “ol’ John was quite a guy.”
“He knew how to set a goal.”
Then bury those dreams right with him
Inside a six foot hole.
Because some days come and some days go,
And someday is going to get here.
Some day when your dreaming is done,
Some day there’ll be no next year.
So make the time and take the money
And make your dreams come true.
Because every day is someday!
But, the decisions are up to you.
John Nelson
Gunnison, Colorado
