Customer Reviews

Cowboy Poetry Matters: From Abilene to the Mainstream: Contemporary Cowboy Writing

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If this is not the first, it is undoubtedly the best, anthology of cowboy poetry available today. For many years I thought cowboy poetry was kind of, well, you know, cowboyish. That is, it was kind of cute in a nursery rhyme sort of way but was not really relevant when you compared it to real poetry. Fortunately, I was privideged to live in the west for four years and was introduced to some of the best poetry I have ever read. It was called, well, cowboy poetry! Not only was it as well written as any so-called mainstream poetry but it has a way of speaking to the reader that will forever change the way you view cowboy poetry. Thus, it was with great interest that I read Cowboy Poetry Matters. The book brings together some of the best and brightest cowboy poets writing today, most notably Linda Hussa, Linda Hasselstrom, and Laurie Buyer and places their work along side such well known mainstream poets as Donald Hall and Maxine Kumin. The result is a remarkable collection of poetry by diverse poets that discover they share a lot of common ground and that cowboy poetry can be, and is, as relevant and diverse as the poets. In addition to a feed bag full of wonderful poetry, the reader will find memoirs by Linda Hussa and Wallace McRae which will stir your soul. Not to be overlooked is a stimulating series of critical essays by Dana Gioia, Paul Zarzyski, and Kathy Ogren which will challenge you to view cowboy poetry in ways you may have never considered. I encourage readers that want to be introduced to some of the very best cowboy poetry available today to try this book. As they say in the west "How long has it been since you read some really bood cowboy poetry?" "Well pardner, that's to long."

Can poetry matter? Poet Dana Gioia raises and answers this question in his essay reprinted in this book. He argues that when poets took jobs in academia teaching creative writing, the practice of poetry criticism languished, allowing good poetry to be lost in a flood of the mediocre. While more poetry is being published now than ever, its audience has shrunk, and it no longer plays a role in the great public discourse on meaning and values in American culture.

Working against this trend, however, is the increasing popularity of cowboy poetry, with its growing audience of people who gather annually at cowboy poetry festivals across the country, including the granddaddy of them all in Elko, Nevada, now in its 21st year. Mostly unschooled in poetics, the writers of this poetry are cowboys, ranchers (both male and female), and others whose lives are informed by Western traditions. The spirit driving this output surely goes back to the nineteenth century, when cowboys entertained themselves and each other inventing and reciting doggerel verse about their daily lives and the things that mattered most to them.

Rooted as the West is in the rural past, its poetry often seems to come straight from the bedrock of essential American values and national character. Thus its appeal to many who can't relate to the ambiguities, ironies, and self-indulgence of more modern forms of literature. This volume of poems and essays tries to give cowboy poetry legitimacy as literature worthy of the attention it receives. And for the most part, it is successful.

Two of my favorite poets, rancher Wallace McRae and rodeo rider Paul Zarzisky, both from Montana, are represented in this anthology. Each pushes the envelope, creating poems that treat unexpected subjects (strip mining, racial discrimination) and depart from the standard abab rhyme scheme, four beats to the bar. Another favorite, poet and writer Linda Hasselstrom, from South Dakota, is also here. And I was taken by the wonderful, more personal poems of Californian Linda Hussa. Altogether there are 20 poets (including a few from the mainstream: Maxine Kumin, Donald Hall), each writing in distinctive styles, illustrating the range and vitality of this new-old cowboy tradition.

I loved this book and happily recommend it to anyone with an interest in the West and a curiosity about how poetry might once again speak to more of us.