“That’s not a North Dakota name.”
Bulls buck Aaron Leiberkind.
This assertion made me flame.
The man at the mike was impelled to proclaim
(At staying on, young Aaron shined.)
“That’s not a North Dakota name.”
There was no one else he tried to defame,
To Irish Dakotans he never paid mind.
This assertion made me flame.
A bull’s intention is to maim.
The anchor, though, is more refined:
“That’s not a North Dakota name.”
Bulls treat riders all the same:
They want to toss the men behind.
This assertion made me flame.
A rodeo may seem like a game.
Aaron came first; was undermined.
“That’s not a North Dakota name.”
This assertion makes me flame.
E. Laura Golberg is a first-place winner of the Larry Neal Poetry Competition from the DC Commission on the Arts. Her work has appeared in Poet Lore, Birmingham Poetry Review, Rhino, and the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics. Her website: www.elauragolberg.com/