Wild Skies of Wyoming: Cowboy Poetry
By Mick Kaser
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Wild Skies of Wyoming - Mick Kaser
Copyright © 2007 by Mick Kaser.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in
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in writing from the copyright owner.
This book was printed in the United States of America.
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Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
FORWARD
INTRODUCTION
THE WILD SKIES OF WYOMING
STEAMBOAT
HAY BUYERS—HORSE PEOPLE
THE TREE
THUMBS UP
SNUGGLES
BREAK OF DAWN
RODEO IN HEAVEN
CIRCUS OR RODEO
BUGLES ON THE MORNIN’
PLAIN OLE PIERRE
BILLY AND THE RADIO FLYER
NOW HE CAN SEE
MENACE OF THE PLAINS
NO BULL
JUST A PINCH
LOCAL CALL
THE DEVIL’S GRANDMOTHER
MOM
FIVE AND FORTY
NARY A DIME IN THE END
CLARENCE
MAKIN’ LEMONADE
INSIDE HEAVEN’S GATE
BALER FROM HELL
DOGS OUT/CATTLE IN
SELECTIVE BREEDING
AWAKE O SLEEPING GIANT
TAKES THE CAKE
TAKE HIS CHINKS
SHEEP SHEARS
THE OREGON TRAIL
ROCKS
TEND THE FIRES OF FREEDOM
THE LITTLE SORREL MARE
A TEXAS DILEMMA
STILL CAN’T BELIEVE HE’S GONE
BREEDING FEES
NOW THAT IS COLD
WINDY BILL
BIOLOGIST AND THE BEAR
ONE DAY TO LIVE
THE TWENTY THIRD PSALM
COWBOY AT HEART
THE CROSS UPON THE HILL
K LAZY Y
AIN’T IT A SHAME
THE MIDDLE FORK
KAWASAKI QUARTER HORSE
COWBOY POET
AGING (GRACEFULLY)
THE OLDEST MAN IN TOWN
THE FINAL STROKE
DEDICATION
I am proud and honored to dedicate this book to my good friend
‘Windy’ Bill VanAtta. He was such an inspiration to me and to so many others.
Thank you Bill, may God bless you . . . So long partner.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Good Lord for giving me rhyme
My Mother for being my biggest fan
My Son for assistance with the cover art
My Father for giving me much to write about
My wife for her encouragement and support
Bill Van Atta for his inspiration and advice
Windy Bill and Bonnie for getting me started
My high school English teacher for her tenacity
Aubry Smith for his illustrations
Bill Scoggin for his reassurance
My family for putting up with me
My friends that listen patiently and politely
All of the folks that come to the gatherings
And everyone else who helps perpetuate this (?) art
Thank you all . . .
FORWARD
Cowboy Poetry is not, though it may seem, a happenstance to take up a cowboy’s idol time and give him a purpose of existence during the waning days of winter before calving starts. Cowboy Poetry began in most earnestness during the cattle drives, beginning after the Civil War and continuing until the 1880’s. After the cattle had been bedded down and the other riders were on night herd, the cowboys would sit around the campfire telling stories, of their past experiences and other trail drives. In the ensuing months of the drive beginning in Texas and ending in either Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming or Montana (depending on the era) these stories were told over and over, many times. After several times, each cowboy knew the others’ history in detail and yearned for some fresher entertainment. Some played an instrument or sang which helped keep the cowboys interested but their repertoire was limited. So they began putting their experiences to rhyme. They found that they could recite the poems many times over, keeping the audience entertained each time. That’s a fascinating thing about cowboy poetry; every time a poem is heard, the listener picks up something new that they’d missed the time before. As time went on some of these poems were put to music. Many of the old trail songs started out being a poem.
The first large cowboy poetry gathering was held in Elko, Nevada in 1986 and has since become a national event. Cowboy poets of all ages, backgrounds and experiences from all over the United States gather the last week of January to entertain large crowds, rekindle old friendships and try out their new ‘stuff’ on a captive audience. This event has spurned cowboy poetry gatherings year round from Kansas to California and from Texas to Washington. Kids poetry contests, and old timer contests and shoot outs can be part of the program along with nationally known cowboy poets and entertainers. The gatherings caught on like wild fire and in many states are still going strong.
The cowboy poet of yesteryear, the Badger Clarks, the Bruce Kiskaddons, the S. Omar Barkers, the Henry Herbert Knibbs wrote of what they knew and saw; the cowboys, the wranglers, the cooks, the friends, the land, the horses, the cows and the wrecks. From that the basis was laid for the modern day cowboy poet. Things are different now; very few ranchers feed with team and wagon; few cowboys trail 2000 head of cattle a thousand miles from Texas to Wyoming; fewer and fewer cowboys break their own mounts, have a string of five to ten horses or even gather with horses anymore. A lot of the drives are done with a Kawasaki Quarter Horse by folks fresh out of college from somewhere east of the Mississippi. But cowboy poetry is still alive thanks to the gathers, the gather organizers, those folks that like to hear and read it, and the folks that take the time to write the stories down in rhyme: not only for the crowd or for the moment but mainly to preserve and perpetuate the art.
INTRODUCTION
Mick Kaser was raised on the Hidden River Ranch on Lodgepole Creek north of Egbert, Wyoming. They raised commercial Herefords and he had a small herd of registered Herefords.
When he was a kid, they didn’t have a television set on the ranch. The boys thought they were being shorted but as it turned out, it was a good thing. It gave them time to read, to absorb, to create and to communicate. Qualities that were ingrained in the young minds and have carried on into adulthood and beyond. Now days a lot of talent is lost to sitcoms, video games and the world wide web.
During his life, Mick did a lot of different things, but most of them were tied some way to agriculture; except for the winter he guided elk hunters in the Big Horn Mountains; and the ten years he was a surveyor; and well we can’t all be cowboys all of the time.
He tried not to get too far from the land regardless of what he had to do to make a living (ain’t it a shame what a cowboy has to do sometimes to feed his self and his family). He only left his beloved state of Wyoming once. It was five years before he could make it back but he never made that mistake again
They have now settled down on the Tongue River south of Ranchester where they raise hay and feed some mother cows in the winter. Ranchester is a little bigger than Egbert, fifteen miles west of Sheridan and eight miles south of the Montana line.
He recorded a tape and wrote a book a few years back. He sold what he didn’t give away . . . so it’s time to put another collection together . . . carry on and enjoy your read.
REVIEWS
To my way of thinking there are a couple of factors—knowledge and perspective—which separate the best writers of cowboy verse from the rest of us. We all have a fair command of rhythm and rhyme, but the combination of knowledge and insight is pretty rare.
Mick Kaser is one of the best. His works reflect the knowledge and perspective of his experience as a child of the West who has ‘matured’ right here in Wyoming where he started life. First hand, hard earned knowledge is the basis of many of his poems.
Mick’s historical, documentary poems result from his exhaustive research into his subjects. Through these pieces, Mick both entertains and educates his readers. He brings life and polish to times and events that, otherwise are dead and dusty.
Reading his poetry, you will come to know the man, kind, generous and compassionate, with and abiding respect for the peoples and creatures of the West, past and present. His word pictures may fill your eyes with