Cattle Drive

Dario Beniquez

March 5, 2023

With No Roof but a Resistol by Bruce Green at The Briscoe Western Art Museum

Here they are two vaqueros, with no roof, but the sky, — a grey sky. 

Their eyes overlook the western plains, not only to assess the storm clouds 

forming, but to oversee the stray cows grazing in the far distance. 

One caballero, the weather prognosticator, wears a yellow saddle slicker. 

The other, the undecided one, the one in the denim shirt, turns away 

from the nearby cattle, looks directly into the pale blue skyscape. 

He is thinking about a cattle town miles away, maybe even days away. 

Hands on the reins, he thinks, let’s find a campsite to hunker down 

before the sun goes down before mañana’s cattle town.

Dario Beniquez grew up in Far Rockaway, NY. He is a poet and engineer. He lives in San Antonio, Texas. He facilitates the Gemini Ink Open Writers’ Workshop. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Pacific University, OR. He is the author of the poetry collection, Zone of Silence, published by https://www.flowersongpress.com/