Telling Western stories with humor, poignancy and insight

Cowboy poetry rose out of the hardscrabble existence of life in the West. It speaks of ordinary things and everyday experiences, but it is not entirely accurate to call it poetry of the common man. The farmers, ranchers and sheepherders that tamed the land, that yet live on it and love it to the bottom of their souls, are an uncommon folk. Cowboy poetry tells their story with humor, poignancy and insight.

"Cowboy poetry will make you laugh, will make you cry," says Sam Jackson, "but if you listen closely, there's a lot of Western history of the kind not written down in books. History books record the big things. We have private journals and diaries that aren't meant for the public. Cowboy poetry bridges that gap."

The simple things of everyday life are important to our understanding of life in the West, he says, and are being forgotten. "Real Western history is dying away. When many of these people die, their memories will go away like a melting snow bank."

Jackson got into cowboy poetry after he retired from a career in the missile industry and attended a program in San Antonio. He came to love the genre so much that he not only started writing poetry himself, but he began producing the National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo, which he sees as a way to make it better.

The rodeo is a competition, he says, "and I can't think of anything that competition doesn't improve: cars, basketball, golf. So why not poets?"

Since it was first introduced, cowboy poetry has grown in popularity, which has been both good and bad, says Jackson. "The bad news is that its popularity soon outran the talent pool, with some folks announcing themselves as 'Cowboy Poet Entertainers' a mite sooner than they should have."

And while Jackson loves the genre, "I hate bad poetry. Sadly, one bad poet can drive people away faster than 10 good ones can bring them in. Thus our slogan: Excellence Through Competition."

Now entering its 15th year, the National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo started in Cedar City, then moved to Kanab, where for seven years it was part of the Western Legends Roundup. Then, it played in Hot Springs, S.D., for two years and in Montrose, Colo., for two years. Basically, says Jackson, they just wanted to give people a chance to see some other scenery.

But this year, the rodeo will be returning to Kanab, "where we will again be spicing up the Western Legends Roundup again, with riders (poets) coming in from all across the country from California to North Carolina, plus Canada, Mexico and other places, to compete for $6,000 in prize money and silver buckles."