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Cowboy Poetry With
Baxter Black
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The Phone Call |
by Baxter Black |
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It's always been a mys'try
In the winter when it's slow
Why a rancher gets up early
When he's got no place to go! |
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He prowls around the kitchen
Like a burglar on parole
In his air conditioned slippers
With the toe there in the hole. |
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Then he builds a pot of coffee
And has a little cup
¡®Till he thinks of some good reason
To wake somebody up! |
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And all around the valley
Folks are nestled in their bed
Unaware an egg is hatching
In the rancher's little head. |
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He's reread the livestock paper
Since getting up alone
But he's still not quite decided
Just who he's gonna phone!
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The assistant county agent?
The forest ranger's boss?
The banker? Brand inspector?
The commissioner that lost? |
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The vet? The Co-op salesman?
Though he can't recall his name,
But it really doesn't matter
¡®Cause anybody's game. |
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He quivers like a panther
About to pounce his prey
As the innocent lay sleeping
Just a dial tone away. |
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By daylight it's all over
And he's reached a fever pitch!
The way he's stompin' 'round the house
His wife is wond'rin' which |
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Potential victim got the call
And had his brain massaged
With the lecture, she, just yesterday,
Herself, had tried to dodge! |
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But little does she realize
Just why he's in a tizzy,
See his neighbors got up earlier...
And all the lines were busy! |
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Read comments or post your own comments to this article at the bottom of this page. |
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Baxter Black, was born in 1945 in a Brooklyn Naval Hospital, NY, as his dad was in the Navy. Baxter likes to say his birthday is on the second Friday of each January. He grew up in Las Cruces, New Mexico and rode bulls in high school and college. As Baxter tells it, he spent most of his working life in the mountains west tormenting cows. Black now lives in Arizona and travels the country tormenting cowboys. He was trained as a large-animal veterinarian at New Mexico State University and Colorado State University, graduating in 1969. His first column was published in July 1980 in the Record Stockman , Denver, Colorado. Baxter explains: "The last company where I was working as a tech veterinarian changed hands and let me go. I was doing speaking on the side and people just kept calling, so here I am." |
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Since then, he has published over a dozen books of fiction, poetry, and commentary. He is a regular commentator for National Public Radio's Morning Edition, and also hosts a syndicated weekly radio program, Baxter Black on Monday, and writes a syndicated weekly DAILY NEWSpaper column, "On the Edge of Common Sense." He also hosts a program on RFD-TV. |
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Baxter Black can shoe a horse, string a barbed wire fence and bang out a Bob Wills classic on his flat top guitar. |
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Copyright © 2008 All rights reserved. The above article is the property of the Author and may not be duplicated or redistributed in any way without permission. |
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Reader comments for this article |
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Name: Patty Burnard Time: 2008-02-07 17:02:58
Comment: Pretty fun and funny poetry. I understand ranchers are an early morning breed, and now I still don't quite understand why?!
Name: Ed Time: 2008-02-01 22:02:45
Comment: I always enjoy Baxter. He has a wonderful western 'working mans' sense of humor.
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