European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 24, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Cowboys and couplets Western poets go Public by Bob Kerr associated press Cowboy poets who once practice their Art mainly in bunkhouses and bars and a family gatherings have extended their Stag across America in recent years appearing on National television and the banquet circuit Cowboy poetry has existed As Long As there have been cowboys several old songs began As Cowboy verse and the ear1 s1 books of Cowboy poems were published As car the 19th Century Bui they did t r Dlly attract a wide audience until january 1985 when Hal Cannon former state lol Kronst in ulan organized with several others the Cowboy poets gathering in Elko. Nev. Now an event held every january Cowboy poetry was a part of american folklore but it had almost no says Cannon who has become the director of the Western Folk Lite Center in Salt Lake City America did t know about the poetic Cowboy so we All started thinking about it we started looking around our own slates and found that almost everyone who interprets the Cowboy is an outsider movie makers. To producers journalists artists folklorists the Cowboy had t really had a Chance to Tell his own Story he really did t have a Public forum " Baxter Black of Henderson. Colo. Considered to be the Only such Poel who derives his entire income from rhyme says audiences find Western poetry enchanting because of the Cowboy s Independent image he has a physical Black says he s outdoors he s placing himself against the elements with the mythical code of the West to guide him when the chips Are Down this is the person you want to stand beside you Black has travelled the banquet circuit for years with stopovers in such places As Muleshoe. Texas. He says acceptance from the general Public began with that first poetry gathering in Elko before the poets went Public. Cannon says the Only place you really heard them was in bars or cow Camps they were pretty private sessions " cowboys and ranchers first published their poetic works As Early As i860, he says but it just never got out to the Public " the Public exposure has brought out several Hundred other Cowboy poets some belter than others the Quality ranges from bad to great Cannon says Buck Ramsey of am Anllo Texas one of the newcomers to the Cowboy Poel Circle is considered by Cannon to be one of the Best when i hear Buck Ramsey recite his poetry i m much More moved than when i see someone throw his hat All around the Cannon says performance which includes gestures facial expressions and Lone of voice sometimes overshadows the Content Al Cowboy poetry readings Ramsey s verse is straightforward with no histrionics asked for a Couplet about a Cowboy Poel. Ramsey replied horses Are uncharacteristic companions now Tor Cowboy poet Baxter Black. The Henderson colo., Man now rides the lecture circuit and derives All his income from poetry. He d do to ride the River with i d have you say of me. And if i lived to fit the words i d be All i should Waddy Mitchell a ranch Foreman near Elko who also has found National prominence As a Cowboy poet estimates participation since the first gathering has increased 2,000 percent. Mitchell has appeared on several television specials and toured recently with country Singer Michael Martin Murphy to places like Martha s Vineyard. Massand Miami. Black who acts As his own business manager and limits his appearances off the banquet circuit to about five a year has been a guest on the tonight show with Johnny Carson twice other poets have begun to fill in As head mers at dinners banquets and conventions throughout the West. Cannon is preparing an anthology of Cowboy poetry that will include some of Ramsey s work. Ramsey injured in a bronc Riding Accident on a Texas Panhandle ranch in 1963, has written non fiction Lor southwestern publications for years. He believes Many cowboys Are far better educated in literature than most people realize. Some of the Cowboy language comes from such classics As Homer s Iliad. Homer referred to a breaker of horses 56 times in his classic work Ramsey says. It also produced the term bit the the Bull Durham classics also supplemented the cowboys literary understanding. A poet and a scholar As Well As a Cowboy Buck Ramsey of Amarillo Texas Points out one of the first Cowboy poets was Homer. He invented the phrase bit the dust in the Iliad says Ramsey. Back before the turn of the Century you could Send a dime with a tag off a Bull Durham tobacco sack and get one of the 303 classics Ramsey says. The set included All of the great literature from Homer up through the american Ramsey wrote poems As a Young Cowboy along the Canadian River Breaks in later years i would see someone like Baxter or Waddy on to saying their poems and the old poems were running through my mind. After i saw them i decided to write my poems Eima Bombeck someone did a poll on the one expression kids heard the most from their parents and would be Happy never to hear again what do you think it was shut the door7 were you born in a barn when i was your age " Well treat you like an adult when you Start acting like one think about it it s every Parent s Battle cry All together now not while you re under this roof kids must wonder what is so magical about this dome thai houses the Wisdom of the Library of Congress the Sanctity of St. Peter s Basilica and the finality of the supreme court. It s Only a 3 by. 2vi a am pm. Two car gar., frpl., for crying out loud not the Lincoln memorial what makes it so special the roof covers a House built on a foundation of rules by two people called parents. They provide the bricks and mortar that someday will protect a family. There Are rules for everything. Rules for orderliness and cleanliness rules for behaviour and morality curfews consideration respect. Rules they be salvaged from their own backgrounds and a few they be added on their own. It s the Only Way they know of having a House stand for something without them it s just a place to claim your mail. Some of the rules Are stupid. Don t Wash your hair after 9 p some of them Are unreasonable. You clean the fish tank tonight or All of them get flushed to that big aquarium in the some of them Are personal. I Don t know what you do in St. Louis mister but you Don t sleep in the same bed with anyone under this roof to whom you Are not currently married Page 16 the stars and stripes what children do outside of this roof is out of saturday february 24,1990 parents control. They Are powerless. Tho Only place they can still teach and Lay the foundation for what their children Are or what they will become is under their roof. It in t an easy House to maintain. Too Many rules and too few compromises too much talking and too Little listening too much rigidity and not enough love could prompt the teen agers to move out. Every roof is different. Children who go on to marry and build their own House of rules Are amazed one Day to find themselves saying Don t even think of touching that thermostat or gel your feet off the sofa it is Only then that they realize what they brought away from the roof of their past. It s funny. There in t a child who can t wait to get out of the House that rules built and yet never have so Many lessons been Learned in so Little time by so Many people under one roof. C1990e"n
