Customer Reviews

Cowboy Curmudgeon and Other Poems

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Wallace McRae is a cowboy's cowboy poet. A rancher from Forsyth, Montana, with a gift of language, humor, and heart that makes his work rise far above the mainstream of this particular brand of American literature. This book is a collection of over 50 of his most popular poems, including classics such as "Reincarnation" and "Give Us a Song, Ian Tyson."

Writing in western vernacular, with clever turns of phrase and imaginative turns of thought, he covers a range of subjects from cowboys and ranching to boot shopping and hollyhocks. There are poems on gooseberries, coyotes, and the change of seasons, and many are tongue in cheek, like a cross-cultural conversation with a hippie and cataloging the trials of raising a son who takes after yourself.

Yes, many of the poems are "curmudgeonly." He complains about hunters and tourists, Californians and city folk in general, the environmental and social havoc of strip mining and clear cutting, and people who want to off-load their unwanted pets and unruly kids in the country. But just as often there is heart-felt sentiment, in the loss of a good hired hand who moves on, the loss of a neighbor whose ranch gets foreclosed, the retirement of an old rodeo bareback rider.

McRae's poems belong on anyone's shelf of western literature. He's the genuine article.

This is one that you'll not put aside until you git done with it. Laughter, tears, plain ol' country. If you ain't Country, You ain't. Now I see that all o' the rest of Wallie's books are outta print. Gotta say somethin' great!!!

Great poems with a humerous twist and a unique view of life on a working Montana ranch.