Wild Skies of Wyoming: Cowboy Poetry

By Mick Kaser

As you walk through these pages, you will meet the legendary characters who made the west what it was. The story of Ole Steamboat is here on these pages pitchin on the Wyoming license plate. The American Cowboy comes alive on the pages of this book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 24, 2008
• ISBN: 9781462842544

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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