Dream no. 31 by Carrie Magness Radna

Dream no. 31

by Carrie Magness Radna

Why do cowboys seem to wind up as loners?

He was certainly that, leaning against a fencepost

somewhere in the desert. Why was I there, alone?

He was striking as one on a pack of Marlboros;

wearing no stitch of color besides black,

his handsome face wore the elements,

his eyes mostly clear green. He didn’t seem

to be mean or ornery, but I still felt uneasy.

Fifteen minutes from the next town,

we were far from civilization without transport

(He had a horse named Sherry;

I did not),

so when he told me to follow him—

I did not. I started to run away,

Then—I flashed into a parking lot,

pumping quarters into a horse

made of plastic & scrap metals

in front of a gas station

“Trying get away? Can’t do it like that!”

the cowboy laughed.

Will I always feel stuck?

 

Born in Norman, Oklahoma, Carrie Magness Radna is an archival audiovisual cataloger at the New York Public Library, a singer, a lyricist-songwriter, and a poet who loves to travel. Her poems have previously appeared in the Oracular Tree, Tuck Magazine, Muddy River Poetry Review, First Literary Review-East, Mediterranean Poetry, Shot Glass Journal, Walt’s Corner, Polarity e-Magazine, The Poetic Bond (VIII &IX), and The spirit, it travels: an anthology of transcendent poetry (Cosmographia: published August 3, 2019) and will be published in Nomad’s Choir, Jerry Jazz Musician and Cajun Mutt Press. Her first chapbook, Conversations with dead composers at Carnegie Hall (Flutter Press) was published on January 18, 2019, and Remembering you as I go walking (Boxwood Star Press) was published on August 23, 2019.  Her upcoming poetry collection, Hurricanes never apologize, will be published by Luchador Press. She won third prize for “The tunnel” (Category: Words on the Wall: All-Genre Prompt) at the 69th annual Philadelphia Writers’ Conference (2017). She also won 12^th place “Lily (no. 48 of Women’s names sensual series)” by the 2018 Writer’s Digest Poetry Awards. She is a member of the Greater New York Music Library Association (GNYMLA), and is a member of the New York Poetry Forum, Parkside Poets, Riverside Poets, Brownstone Poets and Nomad’s Choir. When she’s not performing classical choral works with Riverside Choral Society or New Year’s Eve performances with the New York Festival Singers, or writing art song lyrics with her choir buddies, or traveling, she lives with her husband Rudolf in Manhattan.