Annie Oakley Recollects

The week of April 18 is "Cowboy Poetry Week" and this is the one I did to share with my writing group.

Annie Oakley Recollects
I was just a little bit of a thing,
but I took no guff from any man.
I learned to shoot to help my ma,
but I entered that shootin’ match with a plan.

I beat Frank Butler fair and square,
then joined his act and went on tour.
It wasn’t long before we fell in love,
and we both kept shootin’ straight and sure.

We signed up with Buffalo Bill Cody,
he called me “Li’l Missie.”
Sitting Bull called me “Little Sure Shot”
but nobody called me “sissy.”

I shot cigarettes out of Frank’s mouth,
my shooting skills made quite the scene.
We toured swanky places in the East,
then sailed abroad to meet the Queen.

I shot with Winchesters and Colts,
Smith & Wessons were equally fun.
I liked to tell people all the time,
“don’t trust you life behind a cheap gun.”

For many years we travelled with the show,
I never lost my keen eye sight,
until a train wreck in North Carolina,
turned my hair white overnight.

It was time to retire I told my Frank,
and he agreed it was time to rest.
It’s funny that I spent my life as a cowgirl
but never once set foot in the West.


Denise Kalin Tackett
April 20, 2010