Author Sharon Carpenter was introduced to the cowboy poetry writing and performing style by Joel Hayes, founder of Douglas County's Poetry Writers Group located in Douglasville, Georgia. She was a performing poet with the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Annual Georgia Cowboy Gatherings. Now, she has collected her cowboy poetry into one volume. Western Cowboy Poetry: An African American Perspective is an engaging collection of poems specifically written to be delivered at cowboy poetry gatherings. These verses provide an imaginary yet entertaining perspective on what life experiences might have been like for African Americans who strived to live in the western region of the United States during both the pre- and post-civil war era. These poems offer historical and contemporary cowboy viewpoints and they are based upon research of historical contributions of African Americans. Western Cowboy Poetry consists of four sections, emphasizing the journey and contributions of African American cowboys; the work experience for these cowboys; cowboy love stories; and the perspective of African American cowhands of the time on values. Isom Dart Let me tell you the story Of ol' Isom Dart, How he broke my will and my soul, And also my heart. He was as elusive as them horses He was always chasin'; You think you landed him, Then you find—time, it was a wastin' ... "Sharon's unique style brings an African American perspective on western cowboy poetry." —Douglas County Sentinel

This book offers the first in-depth examination of a distinctive and community-based tradition rich with larger-than-life heroes, vivid occupational language, humor, and unblinking encounters with birth, death, nature, and animals in the poetry.

The Eagle I wrote this poem about when I was living on Dr. M.J. Nachtriebs Ranch at Northrop, Colorado. In the mornings as I would leave to work I would see this pair of eagles above in their nest in a tree. At night when I got home I wouldn’t see them, but just before dark they would fly over the camper I was staying in. I always liked to think they were watching over me.

This collection of poems was chosen from among 10, 000 gathered from cowboy reciters, ranch poets and from a library of over 200 published works of cowboy verse. One third of the poems are classics that have proven their vitality by having lived in the hearts and minds of cowboys and ranchers for decades. The remaining two-thirds are new, created within the last few years. "Most cowboy poems speak of real events and people, from bucking horses and cagey cows to old Stetson hats and long winter travels. Although they focus on the ordinary stuff of life, their truths . . . seem no less eternal than those penned by William Shakespeare. Some cowboy poems are bust-a-gut funny; a few are downright dirty . . . most carry an honest, primitive power." --Michael Riley, TIME Magazine

A Tucson author presents 64 poems about cowboy and ranch life.

"In this text, author and editor David Fillingim turns his attention to the West - West Georgia that is. This book examines how the contemporary cowboy poetry revival that sprung up in 1985 in Elko, Nevada, has borne fruit in the Peach State. First, Fillingim traces the history of cowboy poetry and its emergence as a cultural phenomenon. Then he recounts the story of how Georgia became home to a vibrant cowboy poetry scene. But the largest part of the book is an anthology of poems by some of the finest cowboy poets anywhere, and they all happen to be in Georgia." "As celebrated cowboy-poet Doris Daley says in the preface, "everywhere is west of somewhere". So settle in, and travel with Fillingim to someplace west of wherever you are, and enjoy this unique combination of shrewd scholarly analysis and heartwarming cowboy poetry." --Book Jacket.

In Cowboy Poetry: The Reunion we lift our lariats and salute twenty years of poetry sharing at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada. Reflective and rascally, tough and fresh, clever and insightful, this book holds the history, the heritage, and the future of the vibrant voices of the West. This anthology comprises some of the best of traditional cowboy poetry predating the present cowboy poetry revival, as well as work created since 1985. It is a great retrospective, giving us a sense of where we have been and where we are going, as well as a fitting tribute to the men and women whose words reflect an authentic American West. Virginia Bennett is the editor of Cowgirl Poetry, also published by Gibbs Smith, Publisher.

The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering is the granddaddy of all cowboy poetry events, proclaimed by the US Senate in 2000 in recognition of its pioneering role in the preservation and revitalization of this important American tradition. In conjunction with the 30th anniversary of the event, this commemorative volume collects 100 poems by various cowboy poets who have appeared at the gathering over the last three decades, from Baxter Black and Wallace McRae to Georgie Sicking and Paul Zarzyski. Representing the best contemporary cowboy poetry from the first gathering to the present, the poets and poems are culled for their importance and quality with consideration for a wide range of topics that represent the richness and depth of this broad genre. In addition to poems that will make you smile, sigh, or sit up straight in your saddle, the anthology features expressive photos of the contributors, biographical and explanatory headnotes, relevant artwork from the Western Folklife Center’s extensive archives, and illuminating sidebars on various topics such as working cattle; life on the land; the relationship between cowboy poetry and song; gear, horses, or cattle mentioned in poems; and profiles and photos of important cowboy poets from earlier times. Cowboy poet extraordinare Baxter Black will provide a foreword, and Charlie Seemann, executive director of the Western Folklife Center, will write an introduction that gives context both to the event itself and to cowboy poetry in general, from the days of the trail drives in the nineteenth century to the lives of the hardworking men and women who still ranch and live on the land in the West today.

The author, a prize-winning cowboy poet, delivers the reality of the West through this, his third collection of original western and cowboy poetry. His work is pointed toward remembering, preserving, sharing, and celebrating our western and cowboy heritage and traditions. The poems are drawn, primarily, from his experience as a young cowboy in the Sandhills of Nebraska in the 1930's and 1940's. They are also influenced by his pre-teen acquaintance with Badger Clark, the classic cowboy poet, who was then Poet Laureate of South Dakota.