Daniel Edward Moore

Cowboy Contemplation

Kind of admits        to your absolute need            to ride the fence     

       of commitment                to watch the hand        not hold it

watch the veins        in my hand               bruise bright

                     in circles           that lasso your eyes.

Stampeding nightly        hooves        on your chest

                         trampled beauty               on the reckless range

where cowboy meets stud            meets mare messiah

             with a fist full       of one-dollar bills        for your chaps

with words to discuss                   over morning coffee

        after long distance                         death threats &coyote calls.

You never showed up             with a saddle on time

          to tame my herds of lies               always riding bareback for me          

 out of         & into             the barn.

Earthbound Sissies

When father made the world his friend 

but not his friends, the world,

I entered space at a fragile age,

a confederate kid on a red clay rocket

learning how distance & divinity worked

turning strangers into gods, sitting

next to me at Holiday meals mother made

as if they were our last.

In case the adopted, exiled ones,

prone to disease & the thrill of disorder

chose a path of landmines left

by delicate, skinny, fuse loving things,

earthbound sissies like me.

Poet Biography

Daniel lives in Washington on Whidbey Island.

His poems are forthcoming in Weber Review, The Cape Rock, Kestrel,

RipRap, The Timberline Review, River Heron Review, Passages North,

Passengers Journal, The Night Heron Barks, Coachella Review,

Ocotillo Review and Nebo Literary Journal.

He is the author of the chapbook “Boys “(Duck Lake Books) and

'Waxing the Dents,' is full length collection is from Brick Road Poetry Press.

Visit him at Danieledwardmoore.com.