If Cowboys Were Cancer Cells, by D. G. Geis

D. G. Geis is the author of Fire Sale (Tupelo Press/Leapfolio) and “Mockumentary”
(Main Street Rag). Among other places, his poetry has appeared in The Irish
Times, Fjords, Skylight 47 (Ireland), A New Ulster Review (N. Ireland), Crannog
Magazine (Ireland), The Moth, (Ireland), The Tishman Review, and Poetry Scotland
(Open Mouse).

About the poem:
This is one of those rare poems that simply appeared. It doesn’t happen very often, but it
occurred to me that life, like writing poetry, is very much like pulling things out of a hat.
I may have an idea where I want to begin, but the poem usually works its way around
me and my idea of what it should be. In that sense poetry is more a form of self-erasure,
a vanishing act.