Hello Jack and Freida

Hello Jack
Hello Freida
Hello  a echo down the canyon,
I can see the sun shine creeping down the red rock side,
Wonder if you can see it too ?
I know you can see the moon.
( No Freida I wrote "See" not shoot)
Jack keep her straight, Tell her .....
The sound is just calf's crying, lost looking for a mom,
Yes that is one across the front of my saddle,
I have to carry him home,seems he is truly lost,
I'll bottle feed him, he can't eat stones,
Raise him up strong proud, He will make a choice,
Rib eye at the Ponderosa Steak House.
Good bye Jack
Good bye Freida
Throw me a rope if you come back.....

Reviews

[Girl Friday (Sarah W.)]

This was a beautiful tribute with a wonderful mixed metaphor. I grew up on a ranch, and so many times we had to bring in the calves that were left or lost, just as you described it, across the saddle horn (or rather in front of it). Beautifully written...sometimes the things that are lost do indeed become found; in this case, I hope that is so.

[Tate Morgan]

here here its time to ring the dinner bell and call those two in for dinner

[Keith]

Ahmen to all of the above.

[John]

There's quite a famous poem by Ted Hughes called The Moon and Little Frieda and I wonder if there is a nod to this in your poem. It also deals with a coming of age experience when a little girl suddenly discovers the moon, and the moon 'stands back like an artist amazed at its own work'. There also could be a reference to the nursery rhyme Jack and Jill, that cautionary tale of the mishaps that can befall young adventurers. The echoes in the poem might be mocking or warning. They create a slightly eerie atmosphere that is augmented by the lengthening shadow of the dying day, eating into the red of the red rock. I like the wit of 'wrote see' instead of 'said see', typical of a poem that is dealing with realities. Is innocence lost in the pointing of a gun, even if it is at the innocuous moon? (Perhaps not so innocent as it too will shortly draw blood). There is then a break in the poem after the speaker instructs the boy to tell something to the girl. Perhaps he is preventing himself from lying, fibbing to the child about the fate of the calf that is crying. We are taken aback when we are told that the calf is not trotting beside the horses like a family pet, as the girl might believe, but is slung around the neck of the horse, with its future mapped out, chosen for slaughter. The speaker acknowledges the loss of innocence at the end of the poem with a refrain of goodbyes to the children, who sadly, but inevitably, are not going to come back.

[Sheila Kline]

Just love your thoughts - hello Jack, hello Frieda, and a fattened calf turned cow is a choice at the Ponderosa Steak House....so adios to Jack and Frieda (though I read below Jack is back) - two great friends lost after so much care and nurturing and then they are thrown to the wolves so to say.......so sad, really sad!! I miss Frieda.....oh, how I do miss Frieda!!

[Cherrie Palmer]

Not to many days ago it was 107 we have a 1st time heifer who had her baby that night and left her baby out in the sun. She looked for a cool place to hide from the heat. Matt talked me into going into the house from hay'n to cool down and for my break all I got was a baby to feed and a cow to hunt. :)
ps
People who only shop in grocery stores think it cruel to eat animals you raise. That is far from the truth. Animals from a family farm are loved cared for played with and at times part of the family. However you go to mass marketing and they are lot raised and force fed. So remember Bob the steer is living high on the Hog.

[lee von cleef]

Conversations , with animals on the ranch, often interrupt life as it steps on my toe, Thank you Cherrie Palmer, People who live close to the , edge, of life or death see the world ,maybe I mean Feel, the world , as I sit and stare, rolling a blank, instead of a seven.

[Holly Mason]

friends with pens ...both entities missed so much
hope you are faring well...
and I went to Ponderosa last night...seriously did...a quinky -dink moment
thank you for sharing, truly

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i really miss frieda too...Jack is back!

and that is good to see...

now i'm hungry for steak.

[Emily B]

it hurts when friends stray too long away

:)

[lee von cleef]

Yes pain will help me grow , rattle my cage , remind me of the five words , only really need three ; I am Alive, Emily good day, thank you.