Cowboy Poetry Matters: From Abilene to the Mainstream: Contemporary Cowboy Writing
Book Summary Information
Editor: Robert McDowellEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2000-04-01
ISBN: 1885266898
Number of pages: 274
Publisher: Story Line Press
Book Reviews of Cowboy Poetry Matters: From Abilene to the Mainstream: Contemporary Cowboy Writing
Book Review: Wrangler poets . . .
Summary: 5 Stars
Can poetry matter? Poet Dana Gioia raises and answers this question in his essay reprinted in this book. He argues that when poets took jobs in academia teaching creative writing, the practice of poetry criticism languished, allowing good poetry to be lost in a flood of the mediocre. While more poetry is being published now than ever, its audience has shrunk, and it no longer plays a role in the great public discourse on meaning and values in American culture.
Working against this trend, however, is the increasing popularity of cowboy poetry, with its growing audience of people who gather annually at cowboy poetry festivals across the country, including the granddaddy of them all in Elko, Nevada, now in its 21st year. Mostly unschooled in poetics, the writers of this poetry are cowboys, ranchers (both male and female), and others whose lives are informed by Western traditions. The spirit driving this output surely goes back to the nineteenth century, when cowboys entertained themselves and each other inventing and reciting doggerel verse about their daily lives and the things that mattered most to them.
Rooted as the West is in the rural past, its poetry often seems to come straight from the bedrock of essential American values and national character. Thus its appeal to many who can't relate to the ambiguities, ironies, and self-indulgence of more modern forms of literature. This volume of poems and essays tries to give cowboy poetry legitimacy as literature worthy of the attention it receives. And for the most part, it is successful.
Two of my favorite poets, rancher Wallace McRae and rodeo rider Paul Zarzisky, both from Montana, are represented in this anthology. Each pushes the envelope, creating poems that treat unexpected subjects (strip mining, racial discrimination) and depart from the standard abab rhyme scheme, four beats to the bar. Another favorite, poet and writer Linda Hasselstrom, from South Dakota, is also here. And I was taken by the wonderful, more personal poems of Californian Linda Hussa. Altogether there are 20 poets (including a few from the mainstream: Maxine Kumin, Donald Hall), each writing in distinctive styles, illustrating the range and vitality of this new-old cowboy tradition.
I loved this book and happily recommend it to anyone with an interest in the West and a curiosity about how poetry might once again speak to more of us.
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