1.
Square his huge world
with rough wood, pen in even the sky.
Let him tire of thrashing,
give up sniffing for freedom.
In a day, he’ll forget the luxury
of untangling legs.
If needed, choke his will.
2.
Approach from the front
with hushed promises:
a lifetime of feed.
Whisper I’m your only friend.
Watch trust bud, flower,
let him sidle to your touch.
3.
Hide intentions in your left hand,
low, holstered along the thigh.
With your right, smooth away his wariness.
Ready the hackamore silently,
below his line of vision,
reassure -- low tones, always -- natural,
for the best, then buckle it quick.
4.
Let his dignity starve at the post,
spirit snuffed before he knows he’s tied.
5.
Saddle him with your ambition, his destiny.
Dig in your spurs until he bleeds.
4 comments:
I like this cowboy series! And the 5 stages here are great.
Not sure about untangling legs, it's a great image but doesn't seem like a luxury - unless there's a bit more to it. That was my only real quibble on first scan.
The last line makes me sad. Not that you should change it.
I'm with Andie. Gorgeous, but don't understand the tangling/untangling legs bit.
Gotcha(s). (I was just trying to find something more exciting than "stretching.")
Oh, my!
My thoughts on this are to smooth some of the lines out; play a bit with the reader as much as the *blush* cowboy.
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