I Am a Cowboy in the boat of Ra by Ishmael Reed (1972)

This poem is soooooo fun to read out loud, but it gets a little R-rated, so don’t read it out loud in front of your kids. Or your parents, I guess.

The rhythmic language is what first drew me in, but I grew to adore the anarchic juxtaposition of cowboys and Egyptian lore and Christianity and jazz and African traditions. There is so much to love here. Like The Waste Land, Cowboy is chock full of allusions that show the complexity and conflict of identity. It’s one of those pieces that gives you something new each time you read it. (It’s wayyyyy shorter, though, so don’t freak out.)

It’s not a direct link to my scarab, which I don’t associate with a specific poem like I do with my blackberries, but it is connected through its themes and topics. In Egyptian lore, scarabs represent transformation and resurrection. They begin their lives by literally eating shit, then get through the initial shit pile, then have their little beetle ups and downs, and then lay their eggs in more shit. It’s a circle, see.

Our cowboy goes through a transformation in this piece as he gets out of Dodge, then he delineates alllll the shit before landing on a forceful, threatening declaration of who he is (any guesses?) as he returns to Dodge. It’s a circle, see.

I would be remiss if I didn’t also comment on the author’s well-documented misogyny. Women are objectified and infantilized in this poem, albeit briefly, and this comes as no surprise to those who are familiar with Reed’s history of anti-feminism.

We find ourselves so often in the position of questioning whether we can separate the art from the artist. It’s even more frustrating when reprehensible messages come from marginalized voices who say so much else that is necessary to hear. I’m reminded of N.W.A. (and rap in general—though I’m heartened to see a shift in perspective these days), whose messages around violence against and dehumanization of Black men ought to be required listening. But is it worth the cost when that message is tied to violence and dehumanization of Black women? And, as a white woman, what is my role in this discussion? These are difficult but essential questions to wrestle with and ultimately serve as another reminder of how desperately we need the arts.

I’ve chosen to include this poem because, taken independently of the artist, its overall message transcends its problematic elements for me. Furthermore, there is generous speculation that perhaps Reed’s public persona is satire, though the effectiveness of this type of satire is obviously arguable.

Short Stuff

• Ishmael Reed is a multi-genre artist, including the novelist of Mumbo Jumbo hailed as one of the top 500 most important books in the western canon. Conjure was nominated for the Pulitzer.
• He’s also a jazz musician and was the first SF Jazz Poet Laureate.

Topics in this poem:

death and rebirth; goats; society sucks; identity

Excerpt (read it out loud!):

I am a cowboy in the boat of Ra,
sidewinders in the saloons of fools
bit my forehead like O
the untrustworthiness of Egyptologists
who do not know their trips. Who was that
dog-faced man? they asked, the day I rode
from town.

Click Here to Read I am a cowboy in the boat of ra by ishmael reed

Hey! If you’d like to discuss any of the poems in this series with me, please reach out. I’d love to host an online poetry meeting.