Rope Tricks

by Cherie Hunter Day

First published with the author’s “Rengay: Going Solo” essay in Northwest Literary Forum, Autumn 1995, page 40.

grand entry—

rodeo sweethearts’ cupped hands

waving

all the hats come off . . .

Star-Spangled Banner

eight-second ride

the cowboy’s swagger

out of the arena

victory lap—

dust drifts

into the grandstand

littlest buckaroo

naps on his father’s shoulder

at eighty-five

cowboy still performing

rope tricks