An illustrated collection of over 100 works by the renowned cowboy poet.

This collection of poems was chosen from among 10, 000 gathered from cowboy reciters, ranch poets and from a library of over 200 published works of cowboy verse. One third of the poems are classics that have proven their vitality by having lived in the hearts and minds of cowboys and ranchers for decades. The remaining two-thirds are new, created within the last few years. "Most cowboy poems speak of real events and people, from bucking horses and cagey cows to old Stetson hats and long winter travels. Although they focus on the ordinary stuff of life, their truths . . . seem no less eternal than those penned by William Shakespeare. Some cowboy poems are bust-a-gut funny; a few are downright dirty . . . most carry an honest, primitive power." --Michael Riley, TIME Magazine

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.

These recent works are from America's best cowboy and cowgirl poets, most of whom are regular participants in local cowboy poetry gatherings and in the Granddaddy Gathering held each January in Elko, Nevada. Included here are some of the best-known poets, such as Waddie Mitchell, Wally McRae, and more who breathe reality into the myth of the ranching life. Cowboy Poetry is a cultural phenomenon that continues to spread like wildfire across the country.

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.

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 Editors At Gibbs Smith, who have seen as many cowboy poems as a cowboy sees sunsets--Compiled this rousing edition from more than 1, 200 submissions. Each poem leads you down the bridle trail, all quiet and calm as can be. But when you reach the last line, it wakes you up and gets you hootin' an' hollerin' for more so hitch yourself up to the craze that's been building for more than a decade. Bronc Rides I know some boys can ride those broncs, Allowin' no chance to throw 'em. To tell about the tough ones I've rode Would take half as long as this poem. When I'm atop a buckin' horse I cannot permit defeat, So I stretch the reins, and choke the horn, And spank 'em--with my seat. Now horses must learn discipline, And buckin' sure is wrong. But I must be softhearted, 'Cuz I never spank 'em long.