Tabitha Giddings

Cowboy jesus in the deep south ken

This is where he comes in. Smelling like linseed oil he’s
a regular drugstore superman. He reaches down my throat

and plucks out a twenty. There you are, baby doll.
Won’t have that troublin’ you no more.

I imagine he is going to get on his horse. Instead
he invites me down to the Hillgate where he tells me

I love ya. You don’t know me? You don’t need to know
a girl to love her! Darlin’, I love you like you’re my own

daughter. You have a daughter? Only eight billion of ‘em!
I ask him what he’s on and if I can have any of it.

I don’t remember much else from that night.
But I remember how his calloused hands held mine.

Tabitha Giddings is an eighteen-year-old poet living and writing in London. She has been highly commended twice in the Christopher Tower Poetry Competition, once in Foyle’s Young Poets and is published in Propel Magazine. She plans to dedicate the rest of her life to poetry.

Tabitha wrote he following about her poem:

Cowboy Jesus was this character in my head who just wouldn't leave me alone. I knew I had to write about him, but I kept putting it off because I didn't know enough about cowboys or the Deep South. And then I thought, so what! Instead of going to him, I'll invite Cowboy Jesus into my world. See how he fares in a slightly different Deep South.