This year's Cowboy Poetry Week—the eighth annual—is celebrated April 19-25. Inaugurated by CowboyPoetry.com, which is a non-profit project of the Center for Western and Cowboy Poetry, the celebration has been recognized by unanimous resolution of the United States Senate. Twenty states' governors and other officials have issued Cowboy Poetry Week proclamations, and the week is celebrated with activities across the West and beyond.
"The Horse Wrangler Gather'd the Morning Mounts...," a painting by notable Western artist Bob Coronato (http://www.greenwichworkshop.com/) of Hulett, Wyoming, was selected as this year's Cowboy Poetry Week poster art. Posters are sent to libraries as a part of the Center's Rural Library Project and are available to Center supporters.
For 2009, there's a new edition of The BAR-D Roundup, the Center’s annual compilation recording of the best in classic and current cowboy poetry. The CD is also offered to libraries and available for purchase; proceeds help fund the Center's programs.
This fourth annual edition of The BAR-D Roundup includes a vintage recording of Gail Gardner reciting his famous work, "The Sierry Petes" and contemporary poets reciting their work, including "The Men Who Ride No More" by Joel Nelson, "Cowboy Laundry" by Rodney Nelson, and "Housewife" by Georgie Sicking. Also included are "The Red Cow" by the late Larry McWhorter, and "Tracks that Won't Blow Out" by the late Ray Owens. Among other classic selections are poems by Bruce Kiskaddon and Henry Herbert Knibbs recited by the respected Randy Rieman and Jerry Brooks and the traditional "Roundup in the Spring" recited by the late J.B. Allen and "The Cattleman's Prayer" recited by Dick Morton. Gail Steiger recites "The Dude Wrangler" written by his grandfather, Gail Gardner, and Jesse Smith recites “The Black Beauty” by Johnie Schneider. The CD has a fourth annual selection from "Grass," a master work by the late Buck Ramsey, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, recognized as the modern spiritual leader of the genre.
There are many additional tracks of classic and contemporary poems (28 total), most from poets who frequently please audiences from contemporary gathering stages, including: Allen Clark (reciting a poem by Arthur Guiterman), Ken Cook, Doris Daley, Elizabeth Ebert, DW Groethe, Yvonne Hollenbeck, Linda Kirkpatrick, Jo Lynne Kirkwood, Slim McNaught, Rod Miller, Jane Morton, Andy Nelson, Pat Richardson, Jay Snider, and Diane Tribitt.
Vintage and contemporary photos from featured poets' families are a part of each year’s CD. This year's cover features a small "cowboy" in an image of Gail Gardner (1892-1988) from an 1890s tintype. Inside, there's a contemporary photo of three generations of the cowboys in Jay Snider's family, taken on the Snider ranch in Cyril, Oklahoma.
Past editions of The BAR-D Roundup have enjoyed wide radio airplay, and the new edition will also be distributed to hundreds of Western radio stations, thanks to Joe Baker of New Mexico's Backforty Bunkhouse. The CD includes a radio public service announcement by top cowboy poet and philosopher Baxter Black. Wyoming's Andy Nelson, poet, humorist, popular emcee and co-host of the award-winning Clear Out West (C. O. W.) Radio show is the CD's co-producer.
The BAR-D Roundup is offered for sale, with proceeds supporting CowboyPoetry.com ($20 postpaid from CowboyPoetry.com, PO Box 330444, San Francisco, CA 94133 and on line at CowboyPoetry.com).
The annual CD's focus—and that of the Center and CowboyPoetry.com—is to present stories from the real working West. Octogenarian “cowboy” Georgie Sicking (she prefers that well-earned title) tells it like it was in her selected poem:
HOUSEWIFE
We went to the bank to get a loan to keep the ranch afloat
little banker had whiskers on his chin just like a billy goat.
He wrote "profession: rancher" on my husband's pedigree,
asked a few more questions and then he looked at me
He looked me up and down with kinda squinty eyes
and opened up his mouth and uttered a word that I despise: housewife
Now when I'm calvin' heifers and haulin' hay and doin' other chores
to call me "just a housewife" is enough to start a war.
I've got cows to move and fence to fix, gotta doctor that ol' bull,
and that balky tractor it won't start without a pull.
Now the ranch work is important so the house will have to wait.
I'll cook supper for my husband because he's workin' late.
I've been a rancher's daughter, I've been a rancher's spouse,
But never was I ever married to a house.
© Georgie Sicking, All rights reserved
The poem is included on Georgie Sicking's CD, To Be a Top Hand, which received the 2008 Academy of Western Artists' Will Rogers Award for best cowboy poetry album. The National Cowgirl Hall of Fame Inductee comments, "To be a cowgirl is more than just fluff and stuff. You have to do your share of the work, kill your own snakes, never complain, mount up even when you know you may get bucked off, and all the while being more of a lady at work than when you are at home." To Be a Top Hand is available for $18 postpaid from Georgie Sicking, PO Box 11, Kaycee, Wyoming 82639.
Take part in Cowboy Poetry Week: Get your schools, libraries, and community involved! Perform your poetry, donate a book, share your knowledge, get yourself a copy of The BAR-D Roundup. Read more about it all at CowboyPoetry.com.
