It started out with an idea, a memory really, of a time when I painted signs at the rodeo grounds in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. One day I was painting the biggest sign on the grandstand. I had to stand on the chutes in order to reach it. It was a really hot summer day and I was pregnant with my fourth child. I was enjoying the quiet, it was afternoon.
Apparently no one realized I was there, because suddenly someone let a group of horses into the arena! They came barreling through the chutes I was straddling! I was holding a can of paint in one hand and a brush in the other. I was scared; scared of losing my balance, scared of dropping my paint or brush into the fray and having a horse rear up under me, scared of getting trampled to death, etc. All I could do was stand there, one foot on each side of the chute, trying to stay balanced against the vibrating metal and thundering hooves.
Inspiration did not come at that point, just perspiration! But looking back on that moment, what an image it created in my mind. One that came alive with words and eventually ended up as a poem. Think about events in your life that are vivid images. Write them down and see where they take you.
Painting Signs at the Rodeo
Straddling chutes, wild horses run between my
legs
Spotted ponies, wet with acrylic
Hiding in a plum thicket, a wild bull snorts
at the edge
No clown claims him
Pheasants flap wildly over my head
While
thick-set men in suits watch
Alligator-skin boots impatiently pace
Ready to take ringed-necks to
sporting deaths.
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