National Cowboy Poetry Gathering
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes Jan 30, 2007 |
From January 27 through February 3, 2007, the cowboys will be meeting in Elko, Nevada, to share their poetry and music, and to have a rip-roaring good time. This 23rd National Cowboy Poetry Gathering takes as its theme “the ranch.”
To celebrate the “ranch” theme, there will be ranch tours, cooking workshops conducted by ranching families, panels given by respected Western writers discussing important issues such as sustainable land stewardship and husbandry practices.
Also included will be special exhibits, films, lectures, workshops, along with musical entertainment and dancing. And as always, there will be performances by sixty or more poets.
Classic Cowboy Poetry
The web site Western and Cowboy Poetry at the Bar-D Ranch offers a nice sampling of cowboy poetry both classic and contemporary. The following verse was written by Katherine Fall Pettey and was taken from Songs from the Sage Brush published in 1910. This classic cowboy poem alludes to the poet James Whitcomb Riley; it is clever and gives the reader a taste of what the Western flavor has to offer:
The Cowpunch and James Whitcomb Riley
I'm sure some weak on poetry;
I don't savvy it right well,
When it tries to rope in flowers,
And a cool and peaceful dell.
For there ain't no dells in cowland,
Just a water hole or two;
Where the mav'ricks wash their faces
In the alkali, for dew.
But there's one Jim Whitcom' Rily,
He can bust the bronco pen,
Till it's gentle as a baby--
And you wish he'd bust again.
Contemporary Cowboy Poetry
A more contemporary poet is Carole Jarvis, who says, “As [a] young girl, I dreamed of a ranch, a cowboy, and a horse. Or probably lots of horses. But unlike many other girls who outgrew these dreams, I never did.” She and her cowboy husband have been living the cowboy life for forty years. Jarvis has been awarded the 2001 Gail I. Gardner Award for a Working Cowboy Poet and the 2003 Western Heritage Award.
The following excerpt is from her poem “The Home Ranch”:
It's not much for fancy, as home places go,
the road comin' in is just dirt.
The outbuildings need a little repair,
and a new coat of paint wouldn't hurt.
More Than Just Horses and Poetry
The purpose of the gathering that sounds like a big Western party is really a quite serious one: to share information about living the Western life. On their web site, the Western Folklife Center, which sponsors this event, explains their purpose: “The Folklife Center strives to create deep and lasting experiences, to challenge the intellect and engage the emotions, to encourage a sense of belonging for those at home in the West, physically or spiritually, and to ensure that rural communities throughout the region realize and appreciate their own cultural bounty.”
So even if one is only spiritually connected to the Western/cowboy culture, one would find hospitality at these gatherings along with the horses, music, and poetry.