Cowboy & Western Poets

Conversations with
Robert Pinsky & Natasha Trethewey

 

Releasing December 2008, issue #30 celebrates the poetry of the western range with work by 24 cowboy & western poets. Developing primarily as an oral tradition, the genre is often thought of as a hybrid between story and song–a collection of tall tales and folk ballads that sit well around the campfire. But the image of the cowboy has been mythologized by Hollywood, and the image of the cowboy poem has been oversimplified, as well.

Modern cowboy & western poetry is as complicated and eclectic as the modern cowboy–there are plenty of appearances by cattle and corrals and ranchers breaking horses, but the topics range from love and politics to ecology and philosophy. And while many of the poems speak in meter and rhyme, plenty of others roam wild and free. The tribute section even includes the longest poem we’ve ever published, a 20-page western retelling of Beowulf by Donald Mace Williams.

Also in the issue, Alan Fox interviews three-term Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky and Pulitzer Prize winner Natasha Trethewey. Along with 60 pages of open poetry, we share the 11 winning poems from the 2008 Rattle Poetry Prize.

 

	Cowboy & Western Poetry
	Rod Miller	A Brief Introduction to Cowboy Poetry
	Robert A. Ayres	If You Give a Government Trapper…
	Bruce Berger	Rider
	J.V. Brummels	Over the Hill Where Rock and Roll Dies
	Joshua Dolezal	Duende
	Cal Freeman	Farrier
	Thea Gavin	Cottonwood Blues
	Christine Gelineau	Breaking Babies
	D.W. Groethe	When There’s Frost Upon the Ponies
	Mark D. Hart	The Calf in the Pantry
	M.E. Hope	Cow Songs
	Mikhail Horowitz	Wild Bill Hacker
	Bil Lepp	Muscled Loins and Haunches
	Lisa Lewis	A Question About Horses
	Jennifer Malesich	Love Letter After the Fact
	Al “Doc” Mehl	Fence Posts Made of Stone
	David Romtvedt	Spring in the Country
	Luke Shuttleworth	Showdown
	Red Shuttleworth	A Plastic Dashboard Jesus?
	Laurence Snydal	Authority
	Jeff Streeby	Sheep Kill
	Larry D. Thomas	Steers in Summer, Lowing
	Donald Mace Williams	Wolfe
	Paul Zarzyski	The Car That Brought You Here…
	Poetry
	Malcolm Alexander	Semiotics
	Sherman Alexie	Scarlet
	Dick Allen	Considering the Trebonites
	Chris Anderson	Reality Homes
	Tiffany Beechy	On the Poverty of My Imagination
	Helena Bell	Dalton’s Law
	James Best	Expiration Dates
	Sally Bliumis-Dunn	Gratitude
	Traci Brimhall	At a Party on Ellis Island, Watching…
	Trent Busch	Dark Coats
	Marcus Cafagña	Last Meal
	Alicia Casey	On the Day of Translation Workshop
	Bruce Cohen	An Honest Man’s Profile for Internet…
	Elizabeth J. Colen	Aposematic
	Jennifer Pruden Colligan	Pentimento
	Megan Collins	My Grandfather Only Wears Brown
	Gregory Crosby	Everything & Nothing(TM)
	David M. deLeon	Not Everything I Do Is Magic
	Gary Dop	Poem of Four Explanations to Poems…
	Anna Evans	Crash
	Alan Fox	The Only Thing
	Ed Galing	Guided Tour
	David Lee Garrison	Bach in the DC Subway
	Ted Gilley	Virginia
	Paula Goldman	Bonnard’s Wife’s Ashes
	Bob Hicok	Things Rich and Multiple and Alone
		A Family Matter
	Eric Kocher	Dispatches from the Dream…
	Hilary Melton	Under the Knife
	Brenda Paro	My Problem with the World
	Marge Piercy	End of Days
	Doug Ramspeck	Gift Skull
	Eric Paul Shaffer	Telephone Lines
	Joan I. Siegel	Memory
	John Spaulding	The Tears of India
	Alison Townsend	Blue Willow: Persephone Falling
	William G. Ward	A Visit to the SuperMart
	Charles Harper Webb	Swimming Lesson
	Jonathan Wells	Please Hold
	Rattle Poetry Prize Winner
	Joseph Fasano	Mahler in New York
	Honorable Mentions
	Phyllis Aboaf	The Neighbor’s Tale
	Meghan Adler	After Six
	John Brehm	Dear Internal Revenue Service
	Ted Gilley	The Tulip Tree
	Douglas Goetsch	Nameless Boy
	Rebecca Lehmann	Watching the Wizard of Oz…
	Hilary Melton	My People
	Robert Peake	Road Sign on Interstate 5, San Diego…
	Deborah Tobola	Dream/Time
	Amie Whittemore	The Calendar
	Conversations
	Robert Pinsky
	Natasha Trethewey