With Bill Pickett at the 101 Ranch

he was wilder than a wolf when he brought
down a steer with his teeth

but working the 101 was a damn sight better
than riding herd through Kansas winters

snow higher than the haunches of his best horse, Spradley
and his face, if not burnt summer black, matching his saddle

"damn that colored feller can bull-dawg" they said
when the bull whip-snapped his body like a twig

the crowd of Shoshone stragglers and coon-tailed
mountain men cheered this brush cowpoke

who earned his keep by his teeth, but when he turned
show biz and rode the 101 with Tom Mix

camp bosses with red beards and grey eyes
grew nervous to see what he could do

what he could do was judge the angle of light
against ground swell of mud from gate to center post

despite old rope burns that hummed memories to his bones
he listened as calves moaned in the holding pens

and longhorns bellowed at the sound of his footsteps as if
they knew how his hands were rubbed raw against horns

how he bit the bull's lip until the beast caved in
and how his own blood smelled worse than puke and dung

worse than the scent of death in the air
the crowd cheering bull against man
and hoping, dear God, the beast would win

Colleen J. McElroy is the author of several books, including the poetry collections What Madness Brought Me Here - New and Selected Poems 1968-88, Queen of the Ebony Isles (winner of the American Book Award), and Travelling Music. She is a professor of English and creative writing at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington.

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