Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


COWGIRL by JAMES HARRISON

Poet Analysis

First Line: THE BOOTS WERE ON THE COUCH AND HAD
Last Line: I'LL GO BACK HOME WHERE WOMEN ARE PLIANT AS MARSHMALLOWS.
Subject(s): DESIRE; RELATIONSHIPS; WEST (U.S.); WOMEN; SOUTHWEST; PACIFIC STATES;

The boots were on the couch and had
manure on their heels and tips.

The cowgirl with vermilion udders and ears
that tasted of cream pulled on her jeans.

The saddle is not sore and the crotch with
its directionless brain is pounded by hammers.

Less like flowers than grease fittings women
win us to a life of holes, their negative space.

I don't know you and won't. You look at my hairline
while I work, conscious of history, in a bottomless lake.

Thighs that are indecently strong and have won the West,
I'll go back home where women are pliant as marshmallows.



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