Elko Rodeo

This story was told to me as being true, but a U.S. Senator. I was in Washington videotaping a number of Senators lending their support to the National Day of the Cowboy. After we finished, one Senator from a Western state told me the story. That night, I wrote the poem. It supposedly took place in Elko, Nevada, which is home to the Western Folklife Center, http://www.westernfolklife.org/site1/index.php and may be Mecca to Cowboy Poets everywhere.

ELKO RODEO

Folks say that 10 hell’s angels
pulled up and parked their rides
in front of an Elko cowboy bar;
got off and went inside.
About that time, 3 cowboys
came out from that same bar
intending just to head on home
but didn’t get too far.
They walked around the Harley’s
and stumbled in the dark,
each trying to remember
just where the pick-up’s parked.
The next thing anybody knows
the truck took off real slow,
rolling over all those Harleys;
cowboys laughing as they go.
Those biker boys heard all that noise
and poured into the street.
Crumpled chrome and handlebars
were lying at their feet.
They pulled the cowboys from the truck.
The dance was underway.
And 3 cowboys beat 10 bikers
to a bloody pulp that day.
Newspapers told the details.
The report was short and sweet,
How some cowboys held a rodeo
on a downtown Elko street.
Some say it’s just an urban myth.
Some swear that it’s all true.
I don’t know for certain,
but this might be a clue.
Hell’s Angels are more cautious
since this warning got around.
“Be careful where you park your bikes
when the cowboys are in town.”

Jeff Hildebrandt © May 19, 2006