The Wyoming Companion -- A Cowboy Poetry Bookshelf

Cowgirls and Cowgirl poets hold their own. Dee Strickland Johnson (better known as "Buckshot Dot") tells the tale of one independent gal:

Tomboy

I was raised with seven brothers
      near a place called Concho Lake.
There was Jamie, Jeff, and Joseph,
      Sam and Seth and Sid and Jake.
So I grew up rough and tumble,
      and I made my share of noise,
Romped the dogs and roped the horses.
      I was rowdy as the boys!

Skinny tomboy, seven brothers,
      and assorted brothers' friends
On our little cattle ponies,
      raced to hell and back again.
We'd roar down the dry arroyas;
      then we'd all come tearing back,
There was Buzz and Paul and Donnie
      and that rascal Charlie Black.

But one Spring, as I grew older,
      Mama firmly told me, "No!"
And when the boys went out on roundup --
      Mama said I couldn't go.
Then she tried to teach me cooking,
      how to sew, and keep the place;
But my heart was roping yearlings,
      and I longed to barrel race.

Once she washed my hair in soap weed;
      while it still hung limp and damp,
She stuck that rusty curling iron
      down the chimney of the lamp.
"Sister," she said, holding up a gingham
      dress that she had sewed,
"Andy's comin'! Now you wear this,
      so's your legs won't look so bowed."

Andy was the new young foreman
      of the ranch off to our west,
And of all my brothers' cronies,
      Mama showed she liked him best.
O, she was proud that she had made me
      look like something of a girl,
Got me out of faded Levis,
      forced my stubborn hair to curl.

Well, it wasn't long thereafter
      every time that Andy'd call,
And the boys were pitching horseshoes,
      Andy'd linger in the hall.
So he came to be my suitor,
      brought me candy, flowers and such,
And the night he brought me perfume,
      Well, I didn't mind too much.

Andy'd come 'most every evening;
      he was courteous and kind,
And it wasn't any secret
      what the cowboy had in mind.
Every Friday we'd go dancing,
      laughing clear to town and back.
Andy made me feel a lady --
      so I married Charlie Black!

© 1994, Dee Strickland Johnson, reprinted with permission

"Buckshot Dot" possibly hasn't answered that age-old question of "What do women want?" but she's certainly captured the true spirit of many a cowgirl.