This talk covers the history of cowboy poetry, some of the themes and influences, and highlights what is available in the South Sioux City Public Library's cowboy poetry collection

1. Cowboy Poetry
Writing in the Western/
Rural Style

2. A simple definition of cowboy poetry
is…
a form of poetry which grew out of a
tradition of extemporaneous
composition carried on by workers
on cattle drives and ranches.-
Wikipedia

3. "It [is] a jazz of Irish storytelling,
Scottish seafaring and cattle tending,
Moorish and Spanish horsemanship,
European cavalry traditions, African
improvisation, and Native American
experience, if also oppression. . . . the
songs and poems of the American
cowboy are part of that old tradition of
balladry." --Western Folklife Center
Archive

4. Cowboy Poetry & Western Music

5. “Then in the evenings there’d be
songs, old trailherd songs that some
used to sing. There was even poetry
at times, made right there at the cow
camp.” (James, 228)

6. Poetry, on such occasions, played
second fiddle to singing.

7. Were cowboys illiterate?

8. “the widespread Victorian affection
for parlor and public—often
schoolhouse—recitations” was
equally loved around cowboy
campfires and chuckwagons, and
included “a mass of popular poetry
from Shakespeare to Stephen
Vincent Benét…Rudyard Kipling
and Robert W. Service….”
(Stanley, 3)

9. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

10. John Whitcomb Riley

11. Robert W. Service

12. Robert Frost

13. Rudyard Kipling

14. Stephen St. Vincent Benet

15. Themes
• Ranch work and those who perform it
• Western lifestyle
• Landscape of the American and
Canadian West
• Cowboy values and practices
• Humorous anecdotes

16. Themes Continued
• Memories of times and people long
gone
• Sarcasm regarding modern
contraptions and/or ways

17. Buck Ramsey
•Born in New Home,
TX 1938
•Worked as a day
rancher until he was
paralyzed in 1963
•Became a writer
•Died in 1998

18. Vess Quinlan
•Born in 1940
•Lived most of
his life in
Colorado
•Polio opened
the door to
poetry

19. Linda M. Hasselstrom
•Born in TX 1943
•Moved to SD
1947
•Graduated USD
•Worked for SC
Journal

20. Baxter Black
•Born Jan. 2. 1945
•Las Cruses, New
Mexico
•Large animal
veterinarian
•Active writer since
1970’s

21. Rod McQueary
•Born in 1951
•Traditional and
experimental
poetry
•Worked as a
writer and editor
•2012

22. R.W. Hampton
•Born in Houston
1957
•Rancher until 1984
•Became a singer/
songwriter
•Appeared in many
movies

23. Yvonne Hollenbeck
•From Gordon, NE
•Rancher in
Spearfish, SD
•Poet, historian
and singer
•Sweethearts in
Carharts

24. Marci Broyhill
•Has deep roots in
Northeast
Nebraska
•Teacher,
Researcher, poet,
Performance artist

25. Henry Real Bird
•Crow Indian
•Montana Poet
Laureate 2009-
2011
•Rancher and
educator
•Rode across MT
on horseback

26. Ask for the and
Reading List