From Bad To Worse

By Carl "Skinny" Rowland © 1990

Issue: April, 1990

Editor's Note: Skinny Rowland is a cowboy poet from Helena, Montana. He invites people to write to him and let him know how you like his poetry. He also has a 45 page book of his poetry, "Truths, Lies & Otherwise" for sale. He has now bought a small press and will be printing greeting cards and such. You can write to him at: Skinny Press, 730 Hauser, Helena, Montana 59601.

Now my wife just left
and the well went dry,
and my horse is sick
and about to die,

then my still blew up
and the barn burned down,
and the road washed out
on the way to town,

then my dog got rabies
and bit the cat,
and they both died
soon after that,

now I lost my specs
and my pipestem broke,
so I can't even sit
and read and smoke,

then a tree fell
on the chicken shed,
and most of the hens
got smashed plumb dead,

then a chimney fire
took half of a wall,
and this old shack
is about to fall,

then I caught my heel
on an old dead vine,
and sat smack dab
on a porcupine,

then a beaver dam broke
and my bridge washed out,
and my watch stopped working
and I've got the gout,

and the bank foreclosed
so I've lost my place,
and my cow disappeared
without a trace,

they cut off my credit
at the grocery store,
and I lost my job
and a whole lot more,

I must have been hexed
by a triple curse,
as things keep going
from bad to worse,

and now fate has hit me
a last dirty crack,
to top off the worst,
my wife's coming back.