September 2022
This month, the panel of poets address a defining question many want to know, but few ask.
"May I ask the illustrious herd of boisterous, loquacious buckaroos just exactly what constitutes a "cowboy" poem? 'Cause I've heard it said that the works of the great Robert W. Service would qualify and, although not a cowboy, I do have a few poems that are much like Service's stuff."
-Anonymous
The panel moves from the page to the stage for a live Ask a Cowboy Poet show on Fri, Feb. 3, 2023 at the 38th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Submit your questions for consideration in the monthly column, and possibly the live show!
Bill Lowman:
Whoa! First off, be a mite bit careful of your use of adjectives. Sure, there's a few arrogant and self promoters amongst us, but if you dig deeper you might find them to be the "wanta-bes."
The bulk of us real working cowboys/cowgirls are traditionally very polite, humble, and, by nature, shy away from personal praise. Take a look at my good friend Dick Gibford, for example.
From day one, they asked me to "come out from under a rock" to share my musings, I didn't force myself on anyone. The good folks of the Arts Council done their job and found me, I wasn't out looking for them. I most cherish my remote cowboy lifestyle of family, livestock, pets, and ranch work–lots of it.
I'm personally "old school," where it isn't a poem unless it rhymes. That's what elevates it into an art form, where free verse poetry is just common lines of speech. The joke is, "That's why they call it free–it won't sell." To me, a cowboy poem is only to be written to describe and preserve an extra-ordinary or unusual event within our culture. Don't just write a poem to rattle off at the mouth. I'm also a trained visual artist. I don't do a vase of flowers. I only bring to life real events that need recording in our daily cowboy life.
During the infancy days of the Elko Gatherings, to select featured cowboy poets, one of their basic, unwritten qualifications was that you must be or have spent most of your life as a cowboy/cowgirl or in the ranch industry. I've sat in on several official workshops and many other "bar room committees."
The Robert Service issue. I know a lot of cowboy poet peers that emulate him, but I've always felt it was because they are enamored by his classy writings, not as a cowboy. I'm personally not sure if Bob knew the difference between a bridle and a crupper.
Virginia Bennett:
At first glance, this may seem like a simple, straight-forward question but, upon introspection, the answer becomes deeper and wider than one would at first think. I believe one way we can get to a truthful answer is to ascertain “true” cowboy poetry by first defining what constitutes a “true” cowboy.
“Cowboy” is a job. It’s an occupation held by a person with the necessary skills to complete the tasks required. The word “cowboy” quite obviously infers that cows have something to do with the occupation. Thus, at least for me, a cowboy is someone who performs the work of caring for cattle WITH horses (the last I include to distinguish between a dairy farmer and a cowboy). Being a woman who drew wages for what many consider a man’s job for most of my life, I can’t help but feel that there is no respect of gender in the word “cowboy,” in spite of the fact that a gender (boy) is included in the title. Since I believe a cowboy is defined as being someone who can effectively do the work, it follows that it cannot be limited to the male gender alone but, then again, I imagine there are folks who think differently on that and they do have the right to their opinion.
“Cowboy” is often used as a verb, as we all know. “To cowboy” means to do cowboy work (care of cattle and horses). There is so much pride invoked whenever a ranch person uses that title or verb. The community doesn’t use it lightly and when someone is known locally as one who abuses his/her horses, cattle, or dogs, the appropriate put-down is to say, “That guy or gal ain’t no cowboy!”
It stands to follow that cowboy poetry is a poem written by a person who knows the actual work and has extensive experience doing it well. This person is highly-respected in his/her local community. Neighbors want to buy ranch horses from this person or they want to hire this person to ride and train their horses. If a local rancher suddenly has an opening for a cowboy, he or she is looking for someone who can train and handle a horse, shoe it him or herself, and knows how to handle cattle and keep them healthy. A true cowboy would be a natural choice for such a job opening. Respectability also factors into the definition, as folks familiar with this person know that he or she is honest and worthy of their employer’s trust.
There were times when I found myself working in cattle pens somewhere in the West and a person I’d never met before or even heard anything about was in the corral with me. In this situation, you find out pretty quick if this person qualifies for the title of cowboy and they find out the same about you! Sorting cattle is an educated dance between each of the people needing to get the work done right and in a timely way. You know immediately if this person new to you has the experience to share in that dance with you. When they do, it’s a beautiful thing. You don’t have to explain what you are doing or why you are doing it. You both just fall into that connection of shared experience, labor, and collective knowledge. And, if you are smart, you won’t act like you have something to prove. You will just keep up your end and quietly try to get the job done. You won’t have to speak any words to announce who you are or what you know.
Once we have determined who a true cowboy is, the job perhaps becomes finding the definition of the word “poetry,” but that’s not necessary for me. In my eyes, a true cowboy can write what he/she has to say in any style they want. Rhymed verse or free verse, it’s all okay with me, because, if a cowboy wrote it, then that makes it “cowboy poetry.”
A sincere consideration of this question has proven to me that its answer is never simple. If we are specifically talking about who should be included in a cowboy poetry performance, as your question alludes to, then I would respond that there are some folks who are rightfully included in the mix due to their deep involvement in the everyday life of a cowboy. Therefore, those satellite individuals might be the cowboy’s wife or husband, the cowboy’s children, the cattle truck driver, or the farrier. The veterinarian, the auctioneer, the hay production or fencing crew. These are just a few of the important occupations held by people who are found in the periphery of the cowboy on the ranch, and having their poetic reflections included in a program is a powerful addition. They may or may not know fully the work of the cowboy but having their observations included fills out the true story of cowboy life. Not including them detracts from the full picture and the performance suffers without their participation.
The questioner asks specifically about the writings of Robert W. Service. I do not see Service’s work as being cowboy poetry. However, his subjects of wilderness and nature’s effect upon a person ring true to anyone who spends a great amount of time alone in wild places. Therefore, his work will be heard at almost any gathering of ranch folks because it speaks eloquently to the cowboy’s heart and, thus, is widely appreciated and accepted.
Yvonne Hollenbeck:
I believe a so-called “cowboy poem” is any poem that talks about cowboy life; cow dogs, horses, cows, natural occurrences that affect cowboy life such as blizzards, drought, etc. Some folks feel strongly that it should be rhyme-and-meter style, but I don’t agree, as long as the poem reflects cowboy culture.
Dick Gibford:
To this month's question,
The mix-up here is probably my fault, I recited the Robert Service poem, “The Cremation of Sam McGee,” at the Elko Gathering way back (can't remember which year, but several decades ago) and have told it at Elko several times over the years. It is not a cowboy poem, but one of my favorite classics of all time. To me, what constitutes a cowboy poem is this: it should be recited from memory (preferably) by either a working cowboy or cowgirl, or at least a ranch-raised person, that way we keep it true to form, by description, content in general, and accuracy. In short, authentic. Plus, it would be nice if the subject matter had lots of cows, dust, and horses involved (with riders attached). Go easy with the three-wheelers, squeeze chutes, haying equipment, and things of that nature, please.
Waddie Mitchell:
What is cowboy poetry?
I've been asked that since the Cowboy Poetry Gathering started and I've had many different answers over the years. As you know, answers change and evolve as the art changes and evolves. Early on, I said the poetry was story-inclined. Then my answer was more like, if a cowboy writes it or recites it, then it can be cowboy poetry. Does it matter if the singer is not a cowboy? My answer would be, I don't think it's so important they be a cowboy as long as they’re singing cowboy songs. But then, if the singer is a cowboy they’re allowed to wander off the trail a mite. The same goes for the poetry. I then combined all of those and added, people don't go to a jazz concert to hear punk rock and people don't go to poetry gatherings to see urbanites. So the answer now is, it is who the people putting together the gatherings around the country hire because crowds like them. A few of us older cranky buggers say, cowboy poetry is what a cowboy or cowboy girl writes, recites, and knows of.
What I find consoling is, in the future, historians will look at these times as the introduction of this genre to the world. And the poems we know and love now will be the gold standard of what real cowboy poetry is.
DW Groethe:
Dear anonymous,
This'll be kinda short as I sorta answered it awhile back on another question. Forget which one, but anyway, it's a good one so here goes...
When you research it, you find out that "cowboy" poetry really didn't come around ’til the late 1800s, so for entertainment the outfits woulda had to resort to the popular poetry and music of the day. Nothing wrong with that. So going from there to now, it's reasonable, in my book, to figure that working cowboys would sparkle up their days and evenings with a wide variety of styles. The deal with Robert Service is that a lot of his poetry is western or has a western feel to it. I still do “The Shooting of Dan McGrew” and “The Cremation of Sam McGee.” Another thing that helps is if the poems are ballads. That type of "story" poem ties in nicely with cowboy poetry tradition. I had a friend of mine years ago tell that, as far as he was concerned, if a cowboy was singing it, it was a cowboy song, no matter what the ditty was. I kinda feel the same way about poetry. Sometimes, slipping something a little different into a session makes it more interesting. I guess really you gotta play it by ear. That's what I do.
Hope that helps you and thanks for asking.
dw
