Loved this poem by Jack Grapes. The tone reminded me of Bukowski's "Bluebird." Thanks for publishing it!

Love the lining of this. At first I thought you were talking about an Isuzu. Haha.

In his poem, "My Rodeo", Jack probes several layers of commentary and emotion. He allows the reader to luxuriate in the word plays and nuances–a rich journey. Bravo!

loved it, it stayed with me most of the day, wrapped itself around me and through me and breathed it…and I usually never post a comment….thanks Jack!

Thank God he did not smother his cheap rodeo. Loved this poem.

You know, im not big on poetry, just never got it. It's kinda like how I just never acquired the taste for alcohol, so I can't differntiate between beer, whine and robutussin. But I do recognize how massively impressive it is to be published and awarded. I may know nought about wines and sprits, but an award winning wine is an award winning wine. So on that note, congratulations. Now that you know i nothing about poetry, take me by the hand on this one: If its not an Isuzu or Rodeo drive (in Beverly Hills or the hood) What exactly IS a rodeo?

phenomenal poem. loved the tone.

I have the privilege of being a student of Jack Grapes. The spontaneous magic that occurs in his classroom week after week cannot be expressed in words, but rather savored as a collective grande experience. What a gift, and a pleasure to find Mr. Grapes, "My Rodeo" showcased in/on Cultural Weekly. Thank you for spreading his work around..and thank you dear Jack for doing what you do.

Take the word "rodeo" and insert something you're ashamed of and what you've got is Jack's ability to tap into and express what's on the mind of everyday man/woman in this great piece of art. I'm glad you didn't smother it, too. Had me worried there for a second. Spectacular poem.

Dearest Jack, You're killin' me here. I don't know what it is about you, but your poems go straight into my heart. And now I have that ole familiar ache after reading this poem. And of course it all becomes about how i really feel about myself, too. You are a master: tender, naked, full-frontal gut punches, with a pussycat soul-smile. Thank you for this gift. Sure do love you and RODEO. Sigh…

Jack and his cheap rodeo and his hairy legs poking out from short shorts have kept a multitude of Los Angeles writers on the seat of their piriformis muscles for way over the top tips and talls tales for a mountain of years. Love you, Jack.

Dear Jack,
Don't be ashamed of your rodeo. Everyone needs a rodeo, cheap and tawdry as it might seem sometimes!
Your rodeo is my favorite rodeo.
Seriously, love this poem. It speaks to me on so many levels. Thanks Jack. You rock!

(I thought I posted already)

Love it jack. your rodeo works for me, broken or not! you are such a rich textured presence in the writing world in so many ways. thanks for being here.

Beautiful, thank you for sharing!

Makes me love and worry about his rodeo all at the same time! glad I don't have one…or maybe I do!
great piece on so many levels, but then it's Jack and one would not expect any less.

Dear Jack your white trash rodeo is the greatest show on Earth. Buffalo Bill's got nothing on you. I'm bringing circus peanuts to the next round-up.

Love your beautiful, haunting poem, Jack. I keep going back to read and reread "My Rodeo". I feel such deep compassion for this man I know so well, and happy that he removed the sheet.

What I love about YOUR rodeo is the styrofoam peanuts and lousy acoustics. YIKE. this is genius.

I feel compassion for you and your cheap rodeo, dear Jack. Something monumental and mysterious (though never good enough, eh?) The tight, alienated self and and the scary, fragile greatness of a breath in the night…and such a good poem! Thank you for the magic smoke and shining mirror.

Glad to start my day with poetry.

Delightful. Inventive, delicious and deft.

Jack: Great poem. It is so like you to create compelling literary genius. I love interchanging Rodeo with Radio. In fact I have sworn to secrecy of my own and promised myself to see our Houston Rodeo at least once every 35 years. I doubt I will make it to the next one. Hee Haw.

We should all be so lucky to have rodeo like yours, Jack! Thanks for the ride, as always.

I have been ashamed of my rodeo although I don't feel that way anymore. I kicked it to keep it from being in the middle of my life and it hurt my toe too. Thank you for this expression of life Jack. You are a cowboy after all.

"…Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

–Marianne Williamson

Keep shining your light on us all, Jack.

All the best,
Will

I often wonder if my rodeo is as good as my neighbors, the Jones's. Then I start wondering where the hell the Jones's got the money to even afford their rodeo. No doubt someone has family money.

Absolutely adored the poem!

Thank you, Adam, for expandiong my universe with your great journal.

I especially loved My Rodeo. Jack touches deep inside us to let us know that we are not alone. That we all have a "rodeo", and that it's okay and we can survive our "rodeo" and learn to live with it and by exposing it make it okay, And if we are lucky we can turn it into a piece of art like his poem. Thank you, Jack, for your wisdom.

I loved your "voice" Jack, that you so generously taught us about in your unforgettable classes! It was subtle brillance! Thanks Jack, I miss my classes.

Darlin' Jack. There ain't nothin' cheap about your rodeo… exquisite & deliciously expensive…

I hadn't realized I missed the rodeo
Until now

Jack, I love the poem. It reminds me of an experience my late husband, Norman, had as a boy when his father made him an arrow out of the side of a fruit crate, and all the other boys' fathers had made smooth and perfect replica's of professional arrows. He never forgot it.

Thanks Jack for your amazing poem. I'm hugging my rodeo right now and send a band-aid for that stubbed toe.
I always liked your rodeo in class.

wow. hauntingly beautiful and real. it takes courage and allota heart to take the sheet off and courage and heart you got, jack grapes! mercy bookoo.

The dream and the dreamer.The rodeo in all of us.Hold us gently in your heart sweet Jack.
In Love and Gratitude Toni

Well done, Jack. Congratulations on being included in Cultural Weekly.

Jack, I love this poem and I love you!!!!!! No matter how cheap your Rodeo may be!!!!

So powerful and poignant. I loved it

Angela Cohan

Beautiful words as always, Jack. Thank you for sharing your words with us and for being such a wonderful teacher to boot! Regina

So powerful and poignant–I loved it

Angela Cohan

There is some kind of magic in your star, Jack. You listen to us in class and have the wisdom to see into our rodeos even if they are quietly falling apart; always with encouragement to keep polishing, repairing, revising our rodeos and no matter how many of our toes get stubbed in the process, graciously urging us to go forward. To know you too have a rodeo allows our spirits to touch your star and connect as fellow humans – awesome!

Just because someone says their rodeo has contour illumination and peanuts and weather control, does not mean their rodeo is well-financed and backed and substantive as they say. Your rodeo, Jack, is inclusive and warm and expansive. I only met you once at the SDSU Writers Conference but your own illumination you shared has enriched my life and writing since.

few have written more and said less. this man is so desperate for attention, approval, accolades and other things that begin with other letters. just go on 'biggest loser' already. (lord knows you qualify on multiple levels.) they get like 13.4 million viewers weekly. maybe then we can all be spared the incessant narcissistic drivel.

a sadder man i can't recall than he
who begged in vain for cheap publicity.

(now that's a poem)

Excellent piece–powerful and poignant

Dear Jack
Thank you for giving us the tools to share our individual "rodeos" in creatve and wild ways.
Yours wrapped mine in guaze for the day.
Yours mingled with mine at the bottom of the pool.
Yours made mine ok to expose.

Thank you

Francine

I

Wonderful! True!

made me sad thinking of my own rodeo. i'll be nicer to it next time i come home dejected.

How many times have we all been surrounded by people whose rodeos seem better than ours and we're on the verge of killing the best of our creative selves. Thank goodness you didn't smother it and just let it live one more day. As a student of Jack's he's always encouraging us to keep our creative selves alive and working. Thanks Jack.

Nice! Poem-Master-J is in the hizzows. Way to make the words work for their supper, Jack.

what does he means by his rodeo. i dont get it. can someone explain please?

Danyce Mills
Loved your poem, Jack. Stay on that bucking bronco and ride on!

Jack it aint a RODE, its a f***ing 3 Ring Circus, and you are in the middle ring….on the elephant. Loved it.

Love this poem and hope to see more poetry in the future on cultural weekly! Thank you Jack Grapes for sharing this poem with all of us….

Reminds me of new york, loft parties, going home to my unglamorous squalor feeling like a pile of something less. Long live the Jack Grapesss of this world, bringing the new light, to our old eyes.

Jack, you speak to the soul of the common man whe tantilizing the artist with your keen eye for the magical & extraordinary details of human sentiment.

I absolutely love your poetry and am grateful for the effect it has on me: I want to write my heart out after reading a Jack Grapes poem. He gives me faith in my experience by distilling the human expeience down to it’s basics, riding the moments l their impurities and displaying a gem of a poem.

Suggestion: more poetry from Jack Grapes

I've been to the same, exact party. I know the feeling only too well. Love this wild and true poem!

Your rodeo? You gotta be kidding, Jack. Your rodeo is one of the best around

After reading your poem, I decided to dust off my crappy little rodeo… just sitting there in the dark smelling like regret. And ya know what? Maybe it's not so bad… Thank you, Jack.
You're the best.

I love the poem and the poet. Thanks for providing this access.

even though yours is clearly better than mine… (I meant to say at the end of my last comment… but then my damn rodeo distracted me).

What an extraordinary, powerful, moving poem. So glad you published it. Thank you Jack – and thank you Adam.

I've been trying to have my rodeo removed. But they apparently don't make lasers strong enough. But I don't buy it- I'm getting a second opinion.

This was my favorite poem from "Trees, Coffee……." Good to see it again. Makes me want to take the book off my shelf and read it again when I get back home to Mexico…Also good to find this site. I look forward to see what new things it will provide.

wish my rodeo was as big as yours!

I still keep stubbing my toe on mine! I love the way when the sheet comes off, the rodeo comes sputtering back to life–the slight breathing, the cough, the low moan–it couldn't really be tamped down after all. Killer poem.

Thank you for posting this cool poem.
It reminds me of honoring my creativity. My love/hate relationship with it, having it, being tortured by it and glorifying in it.
Thanks for the departure from my life for while.
I enjoyed.
Love me some good poetry.

I don't think I even have one…I wish I had your rodeo! Jack, Jack, Jack, you just know how to get to the very deepest human place where some of us have been hiding most of our lives. Brilliant!

I am so glad to come across this poem again. I think it's one of my favorites of Jack's. What touches me the most is the slight breathing throughout the night, the cough, the low moan; it makes me think of an aging dog, once a beloved companion with lots to give, now with needs and worries of his own.

I like to think of life as a rodeo……….always changing, usually exciting, with a few bumps along the way.
My rodeo is in the mountains this week. Glorious!!

Rodeo on, Cowboy! Yippee-Ay-Ki-Yay!

Great to see this electronically. Jack is a wonderful artist in every respect.

hi, jack "short pants" grapes,
my rodeo reminds me a bit of henry miller's, the smile at the foot of the ladder. you're like auguste the clown in this poem. you took the chance that all great comedians, performers, poets, and writers take. you made people uncomfortable. and in that moment that the audience experiences your discomfort you reveal your humanity. and, of course, when you reveal your humanity you reveal ours as well. i'm glad you pulled this one out of the archives. it's a gem. thank you for making us laugh and cry all at the same time.

Thank you Jack. I'm less likely to keep my rodeo uner wraps now. You continue to enlighten and inspire, and I continue to be a big and appreciative fan.

So, I was thinking the poor old rodeo was coughing and moaning because it was already old and feeble, but Kathryn's comment ("the way when the sheet comes off, the rodeo comes sputtering back to life") made me think of it differently – maybe it's coughing and moaning because it was almost choked… Hmmm.

"Imagine smothering one’s rodeo" sheesh.
As if the horse and the clown don't need you.

Thank you Jack. Sure makes me feel not so alone as I sit here with the cat.

Another amazing piece in Cultural Weekly that doesn't give a quick hug but throughly mbraces all forms of art.
Loved the Caravaggio coverage in this issue and its exciting to to see Grapes piece and contemporary poetry honored.

Dear Jack, I'm often ashamed of my rodeo too – ahem what rodeo?
Great poem and wonderful to find you here!
Christa

I am glad to see one of Jack's many, meaningful and moving poems in Cultural Weekly. Using Rodeo in this way as a metaphore for I know not what exactly but it reminds me of an ancient interest interest in multiple personalities but that's my Three Ringed Circus. Around and around the horses go. I could never cover my Jimmy with a sheet. I give up. It is all too artistic for analysis. I now, accept Rodeo and smell it and appreciate it. Thanks Jack and thanks to the Cultural Weekly. Gerald Olson

By using a word that we all know, one that evokes the song and dance we all do in making that life we show to others, Jack's real meaning cuts through like a scalpel. He's taken euphemism to a whole new level. The not saying of it makes it that much more blatant, cutting, and personal. This poem is phenomenal: both hauntingly personal and uncomfortably accessible, for we all know exactly how his words translate to our own lives. Thanks for publishing this astonishing piece. I'm going to be chewing on it for days.

This is a poem any writer/creative/artist can appreciate!

Jack's words tear at my heart. God, wish there was a refuge for us at those times of crappy everything.Thanks for publishing this special man.

i think we all have our own private rodeo. this poem lassos the lonely from it's cow pie bed and, to great applause, spins it overhead on a galloping horse.

I stayed on for 8 full seconds and the clowns saved my bacon from trampling and brutal dismemberment.
I am so grateful.

If you smother it , it will not come to town. And if that it so – no more death defyin – no more whoops and bucks and breathe taking spectacles. The smothering of our own source – of loss of breathe. I will always remember Carol Burnett, a master of the comedic routine. But it was her own Cheap Rodeo that made our heart laugh much larger than our own breath. Bravo Jack Bravo. Thank you for not somothering what would otherwise smother us most.

Thanks for your beautiful poem, Jack. It went straight to my heart and split it wide open–what a gift.

Funny how one man's rodeo touches so many souls. Thanks Jack.

You're the King Jack – Inspiration to us all poets – writers – student – and beyond

You write 'em – I read 'em. I enjoyed your rodeo.

Sandy Dudzik

While the administration is figuring out who I am, I represent one of your many students.

[...] adopt a creativity theory of value.  Yet our most popular post, by a mile?  Jack Grapes’ poem My Rodeo, which has garnered nearly 100 comments!  A great tribute to you, literate and wise readers, who, [...]

I wish I were adept enough to express exactly why I liked this poem… I guess when I think about it, its the imagery, the journey of it, the tone…. whatever else, I just know that I really really like it! Thank you Mr. Grapes for sharing this with the us. ( : It somehow, magically, made me feel better about my own rodeo and that's really special!

I can never read (or hear . . . he has published it on a CD — Pretend) this poem just once . . . . .