By AMY DAVIS
Moapa Valley Progress
Once upon a time the west had to be won and stories told round the campfire reigned supreme. On Feb. 21-22, in the Mesquite community theater, cowboys took to the stage to perform poetry (some original pieces) and songs to sold out crowds, about cowboy life in an event simply titled, “Cowboy Poetry.”
It was the 14th annual Cowboy Poetry Recital. To those who had never attended the event before, Poet and Cowboy Lee Kimberlin said, “Well, where ya been? We’ve been here for 14 years!”
Kimberlin said he has recited poems at all 14 of these events. Poems were illustrated with pictures on an enormous screen and later the scene was set around a campfire.
Poem subjects covered topics such as family life, cows, horses and life on the range. While some poems were quite heartfelt, others were just hilarious. These cowboy performers, especially MC Jeff Hoyt, had the audience busting with laughter on more than one occasion.
Marleen Bussma, the only female poet in attendance and winner of the Will Rogers Medallion, said, “It is such a joy to work with all of these guys. I have known some of them for 10 years now and we have become just like family.”
The other cowboys were perfectly comfortable with Bussma, treating her just like one of the boys.
“Women have always been a mystery to me,” said Hoytt as he introduced Bussma’s act. “So I asked my good friend, Marleen, for some advice. She told me, ‘Jeff, women are like cow pies. The older they are, the easier they are to pick up.”
Taken by surprise the crowd erupted into laughter as Bussma clutched her heart, signifying a humorous act of betrayal as she walked to the microphone to begin her beautiful performance.
And it didn’t stop there. There were plenty more antics along the way.
“They taught me,” Kimberlin said, “that if you build a cowboy a fire, you keep him warm for an hour. But if you set a cowboy on fire, you keep him warm for the rest of his life.”
The oldest member of the crew was cowboy poet Brice Wilson. He started out his poetry set by greeting the crowd and saying, “I am so happy to be here tonight. Of course, at age 93, I am just really happy to be anywhere.”
In between acts the audience was treated to the musical talent of a father daughter duo, David and Jenny Anderson from Utah. Their voices blended like silk and honey as these regional favorites sang traditional western music to the tune of a steel string guitar. The duo performed three numbers: “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Ruby” and “The Bandit Joaquin.”
“We are so happy with how tonight went,” said Jim Parsons who helped coordinate the show. “We had a brand new tech crew who worked really hard to get things right for us. They have a much harder job than would appear.”
