title: Cowboy Poetry Matters: From Abilene to the Mainstream: Contemporary Cowboy Writing
author:  Robert McDowell 
description: The poets in McDowell's anthology take up one challenge set forth in Dana Gioia's renowned 1991 essay, "Can Poetry Matter?" --to re-engage with the world of work. These are poems about labor by poets who, even if they don't now ranch or farm, know plenty about working horses. Most know cattle raising, though they don't write much in its lingo. Certainly cultural nostalgia for the Wild West hooks us into reading the poems, but nostalgia and the rugged individualism with which cowboys are thoughtlessly encumbered aren't their stock-in-trade. Instead, the qualities that predominate are hard, painful work; the fellowship of those, including the horses, who do it; and the stunning beauties and otherness of the natural world in which it is done. Yes, many poems are sentimental, but they don't all rhyme or trip along in ballad meters, and many of the best are by women, especially Linda M. Hasslestrom, Linda Hussa, and Linda McCarriston. The accompanying memoirs by Hussa and Wallace McRae are also outstanding, and the critical essays that round out the book aren't bad, either. <i>Ray Olson</i><br /><i>Copyright  American Library Association. All rights reserved</i>
zlib_text: The	Cowboy	Poet	©	2016	by	Susan	Page	Davis
  For	a	Song	©	2016	by	Susanne	Dietze
  Crazy	about	Cait	©	2016	by	Nancy	J.	Farrier
  Love’s	Sweet	Storm	©	2016	by	Miralee	Ferrell
  The	Reformed	Cowboy	©	2016	by	Darlene	Franklin
  A	Texan’s	Surprise	©	2016	by	Vickie	McDonough
  The	Wrangler’s	Woman	©	2016	by	Davalynn	Spencer
  Cowboy	Competition	©	2016	by	Becca	Whitham
  The	Cowgirl’s	Lasso	©	2016	by	Jaime	Jo	Wright
  Print	ISBN	978-1-63409-525-9
  eBook	Editions:
  Adobe	Digital	Edition	(.epub)	978-1-63409-744-4
  Kindle	and	MobiPocket	Edition	(.prc)	978-1-63409-745-1
  All	rights	reserved.	No	part	of	this	publication	may	be	reproduced	or	transmitted	for	commercial	purposes,	except	for	brief	quotations	in
  printed	reviews,	without	written	permission	of	the	publisher.
  All	scripture	quotations,	unless	otherwise	noted,	are	taken	from	the	King	James	Version	of	the	Bible.
  Scripture	quotations	marked	ESV	are	from	The	Holy	Bible,	English	Standard	Version®,	copyright	©	2001	by	Crossway	Bibles,	a	publishing
  ministry	of	Good	N