Western Cowboy Poetry

The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering is the granddaddy of all cowboy poetry events, proclaimed by the US Senate in 2000 in recognition of its pioneering role in the preservation and revitalization of this important American tradition. In conjunction with the 30th anniversary of the event, this commemorative volume collects 100 poems by various cowboy poets who have appeared at the gathering over the last three decades, from Baxter Black and Wallace McRae to Georgie Sicking and Paul Zarzyski. Representing the best contemporary cowboy poetry from the first gathering to the present, the poets and poems are culled for their importance and quality with consideration for a wide range of topics that represent the richness and depth of this broad genre. In addition to poems that will make you smile, sigh, or sit up straight in your saddle, the anthology features expressive photos of the contributors, biographical and explanatory headnotes, relevant artwork from the Western Folklife Center's extensive archives, and illuminating sidebars on various topics such as working cattle; life on the land; the relationship between cowboy poetry and song; gear, horses, or cattle mentioned in poems; and profiles and photos of important cowboy poets from earlier times. Cowboy poet extraordinare Baxter Black will provide a foreword, and Charlie Seemann, executive director of the Western Folklife Center, will write an introduction that gives context both to the event itself and to cowboy poetry in general, from the days of the trail drives in the nineteenth century to the lives of the hardworking men and women who still ranch and live on the land in the West today.

"In this text, author and editor David Fillingim turns his attention to the West - West Georgia that is. This book examines how the contemporary cowboy poetry revival that sprung up in 1985 in Elko, Nevada, has borne fruit in the Peach State. First, Fillingim traces the history of cowboy poetry and its emergence as a cultural phenomenon. Then he recounts the story of how Georgia became home to a vibrant cowboy poetry scene. But the largest part of the book is an anthology of poems by some of the finest cowboy poets anywhere, and they all happen to be in Georgia." "As celebrated cowboy-poet Doris Daley says in the preface, "everywhere is west of somewhere". So settle in, and travel with Fillingim to someplace west of wherever you are, and enjoy this unique combination of shrewd scholarly analysis and heartwarming cowboy poetry." --Book Jacket.

A collection of funny tall tales featuring cowboys, cowgirls, and other characters from the Wild West.

In Cowboy Poetry: The Reunion we lift our lariats and salute twenty years of poetry sharing at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada. Reflective and rascally, tough and fresh, clever and insightful, this book holds the history, the heritage, and the future of the vibrant voices of the West. This anthology comprises some of the best of traditional cowboy poetry predating the present cowboy poetry revival, as well as work created since 1985. It is a great retrospective, giving us a sense of where we have been and where we are going, as well as a fitting tribute to the men and women whose words reflect an authentic American West. Virginia Bennett is the editor of Cowgirl Poetry, also published by Gibbs Smith, Publisher.

The author, a prize-winning cowboy poet, delivers the reality of the West through this, his third collection of original western and cowboy poetry. His work is pointed toward remembering, preserving, sharing, and celebrating our western and cowboy heritage and traditions. The poems are drawn, primarily, from his experience as a young cowboy in the Sandhills of Nebraska in the 1930's and 1940's. They are also influenced by his pre-teen acquaintance with Badger Clark, the classic cowboy poet, who was then Poet Laureate of South Dakota.

"The first part of this cowboy's poetry book lets me tell some of my thoughts about cowboy poetry itself. . . . I have always wanted to be a word painter. Hope you like my strictly western poetry."--D.C Decker. (Poetry)

This book offers the first in-depth examination of a distinctive and community-based tradition rich with larger-than-life heroes, vivid occupational language, humor, and unblinking encounters with birth, death, nature, and animals in the poetry.

A collection of poetry, profiles, and photographs celebrates the lives and work of twelve cowboy poets of the West