By CHERYL JENSEN
The Progress
The Mesquite Western Poets presented a program to celebrate National Poetry Month at the Mesquite Library on Tuesday, April 9.
Poets on the program included Jim Parsons, Mitzi Bender, Kathy Smith, and Farrell Bott; all are residents in the area including Beaver Dam and Ivins.
Cowboy poems are often original works, said emcee Russ Westwood, often written based on the poet’s own adventures and ending with a surprise or unexpected punch line.
“The stories that turned into poems probably started with tales around the campfire, each cowboy trying to tell a taller tale,” Westwood said. “They are stories of the little gals in town, the dry land and herding cows.”
Westwood started the program with the “Ringtail Wowser” by well-known cowboy poet S. Homer Barker, about a rough cowboy who was a “cousin to the coyotes.”
The poem was full of tongue twisting words. But Westwood had the audience laughing at the end when he said, “He (Ringtail) was the cowboy’s wildest dream but he’s all made of wind!”
Bott, dressed in his western shirt and scarf with his cowboy hat recited “The Square Dance.” “I’d sooner gone to jail than go to a dance!” he recited. “Let me chase the wild-eyed cows!”
But Rose latched on to him at the dance and he had to pay her a compliment at the end which made him nervous. At the recitation of the compliment the audience erupted in laughter.
Kathy Smith shared poems about little cowgirls in “Going Roping.” It told of a little girl with spurs strapped on and long hair braided ready for some cowgirl fun! But then grandpa reminds her she is just 5 and cannot ride Joe yet!
Smith told the story of Nettie Jane Steven who lived on the Big Sandy. Nettie “…loved the life she lived” on an Arizona ranch and they would stay with laughter and love, hopes and dreams and watch the sunrise and sunset. She loved to “feel the cool morning breeze in her face” as she watched the herd move along.
Parsons read a newspaper article at a small museum in a town in Nevada and wrote a poem called “SnaggleTooth” about a man with only one tooth and a mule. THis man took up residence behind the blacksmith shop and rode from ranch to ranch helping out. He had a saying, “I got you covered!” His word was his bond.
It was a very moving story – sad but uplifting to know there are people with integrity.
Farrell told “Cow Attack” by Baxter Black about how they tried to rope and tag a calf by riding alongside and pulling it into the cab. But the momma came too, “…and putting her hoof through the windshield and blowing stuff out both ends we were covered in muck!” he recited.
Grandma Mitzi Bender, dressing the part with apron and kerchief around her head, read a poem about the farmer’s wife that her husband wrote called “What Does a Farmer’s Wife Do?” It tells of all the chores of separating the cream and butchering chickens and “still there is no sign of the sun!”
Then in the kitchen come the wee piggies who were born early and so tiny and will they survive? Then comes the garden and canning and pies for the social but still cheerful, she is used to juggling so much.
Westwood had the audience in gales of laughter at the poem, “Skunk & the Cowboy” by Bill Kennington. It seems the cowboy was in front of the judge for shooting a seagull. He was so convincing that the judge felt compassion and dismissed the case. But he inquired of the cowboy, “How does seagull taste?”
The cowboy’s reply? “It tastes a little like bald eagle but more like spotted owl!”
