On the Border: new poetry by Beth Cato

We've a treat for you now: two new poems by Beth Cato. The first – So Old – is an interesting take on a Mad Max-style dystopia, while the second – The Border Cowboy at the Border – is something I've never seen before: a Western meets the Fae mashup. And it works! 

Nebula-nominated Beth Cato is the author of both the Blood of Earth trilogy and The Clockwork Dagger steampunk fantasy duology from Harper Voyager. Her website is http://BethCato.com


So Old
by Beth Cato

my grandma's so old
she remembers back when
people actually drove cars around
they didn't just sit here, rusting

she says people used 
to starve themselves to lose weight
how crazy is that?

and people had their trash
hauled away and expected to never
ever see it again
they certainly never dug through it
like we do
to find useful stuff

people were sure stupid back then
no wonder 
most of them died in the war


The Border Cowboy at the Border
by Beth Cato

some folks reckon you need an invite
to cross the border to Fairy Land
the cowboy knows that ain't so
either a human is kidnapped
dragged kicking and screaming
over that line
or they're a fool who deserves what they get

he considers the wall across the prairie
weathered stones stacked to his shoulder
a peculiar sight, where nary a rock is found
these stones don't look right, either
they darkly sparkle like they been rained on
though yellow grass crackles underfoot

a hole's been punched through the wall
like God laid down His mighty fist
shards about like they been dynamited 

the tracks of the cowboy's cattle herd
go straight through that gap
to the misty, accursed place on the far side
he had figured hill trolls did the thievin'
but this hole in the wall--it ain't like them
nothin' about this feels right

but what's a cowboy without his cows?

he sighs as he dismounts
to lead his skittish mare by the bit
she's smart enough to fight him
as they cross that shattered boundary

today, the cowboy's the fool