let me be feeding horses in the big pasture at five below zero inhaling scent of alfalfa, breath frosting eyelashes years written on my face not in my heart or let me be fencing in the west pasture pulling up wire from pungent earth where snow bent its back tightening each strand against errant calf, while meadowlarks greet springtime's blush or let me be gathering in the hills content to drink from a battered canteen the sweetest water in Crook County my heeler quick to roust the cow from brush, my mare eager to turn a stray or let me be sleeping in the old ranch house next to my partner whose gentle snores match my own, arthritic hands joined horse-miles and hay-miles behind us Patricia Frolander Sundance, Wyoming |
 |
| PATRICIA FROLANDER, 67, Sundance, newcomer who won the 2009 National Senior Poet Laureate Award, is a rancher who says, “My writing is a reflection of the pleasure and pain found in this profession and living closely to my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.” Sign: Sagittarius. |