Western & Cowboy Poetry

We’ve just received word that my latest book, Views from the Saddle, has received the 2010 Will Rogers Medallion Award for Cowboy Poetry. It is my second such award, the first granted to my book,  Western Images, in 2008.

The award recognizes both content and production, the latter recognition going to Western Poetry Publications (an imprint of The Resource Network). Specifically, the award recognizes books which exemplify “…the combination of excellent content, high production values and honoring of the Cowboy Heritage that the award was created to acknowledge.”

The award has special meaning for me in that Will Rogers was one of my heroes in the early 1930s. His story-telling ability and his unmatched sense of humor were much appreciated during those days during the Great Depression and drought as I was growing up in the Sandhills of Nebraska.

One of my poems, “Chopin’s Minute Waltz,” appears in a new book, Chopin with Cherries: a tribute in verse, ISBN 978-0-9819693-0-5, published by Moonrise Press and available through Lulu as well as other online and local booksellers.

Sorta unusual, but real nice for an old cowboy to be featured along with an impressive array of modern poets. But it’s understandable ’cause Chopin’s music transcends time and was much appreciated in the salons, saloons, and opera houses of the American West.

The book, an anthology of contemporary poetry edited by Maja Trochimczyk, will be officially presented during the 3rd International Chopin Congress (an event celebrating the 200th anniversary of Chopin’s birth) in Warsaw, Poland, February 24-March 1, 2010.

A second edition of the collection, planned for release next fall, will be bilingual and will include Polish translations by Polish-American poets: Leonard Kress, Maja Trochimczyk, Janusz Zalewski, and others.