4 Southwest Progress Report 2012


Piecing Together the Social Fabric


Cowboy poetry tradition continues C


BY ELIZABETH HEATCOAT


owboy poetry was a form of socializing and entertainment


long before there were formalized gatherings to celebrate the genre. It began sitting around campfi res,


telling stories, creating a stronger fellowship amongst a breed. It was a means of telling stories of cowboy heritage and passing down the tales of the generations. “T ere is one woman from around


Above, Doris Bircham had a book


published called Where The Blue Grama Grows. Main, a compilation of history and cowboy poetry make up a collection which looks at the Reesor Ranch.


here that I like to call the fi rst lady of cowboy poetry,” explained Candace Pollock, during an interview in the back of T e Cowboy Church in Maple Creek. Pollock is a member of the organizing committee for the 23rd annual cowboy poetry gathering. She is aff ectionately referring to


Doris Bircham, one of the women who helped to organize and promote the Cowboy Poetry gathering in the late 1980s and into the 1990s. Bircham has travelled to many


places reciting her poems which refl ect being a prairie woman and her experiences of being a “hands- on” ranching partner for more than 45 years. In her published book Where Blue Grama Grows, “she conveys to her readers the power and mystery of the land and the elements. Bircham is a poet of the immediate and the human; hers is a voice that is authentic and imbued with a constant sense of awe. Her lyrical telling of the land and the unforgettable characters she draws are taken straight, unfi ltered from the experience of living in this starkly beautiful part of the world,” states her biography. T e latter part of the description


is one that can be used to describe most cowboy poets. “I suppose I was a cowboy poet


Photos submitted


Doris Bircham (left) has performed with many people over the years.


long before I knew what cowboy poetry was,” said Bircham as she thumbed through the pages of the Maple Creek History book. She was recalling the early years of the cowboy poetry events aſt er Kim Taylor introduced the gathering to the community. “Cowboy poetry really began on


the North American continent with a gathering in Nevada in 1985 or 1986,” explained Bircham. T en a


gathering in Pincher Creek was the fi rst one in Western Canada “as far as we know, “ she said inserting a quick disclaimer. “And (Maple Creek) was close on their heels.” T e gatherings are more than just about poetry,


they are also a


showcase of cowboy craſt sman ship, organized in celebration of and an attempt to preserve the heritage of the cowboy community. Part of that heritage is also good ol’ fashioned western hospitality. “We don’t pay our poets, we try


to kill them with kindness,” noted Bircham. “Maybe Joe Blow over there is not the best poet in the world, but he deserves to be part of this too … if we paid the poets to come we would have had a select group and less camaraderie.” It is the camaraderie which


brings many people back each year. Back in the Cowboy Country Church, Pollock explains her pull to the gathering that will be held in September this year. “We have met friends from all


over,” she said. Many of the people who take part have consistently attended throughout the years. “I don’t know if there is anything


about cowboy poetry I don’t like,” she chuckled. “I love hearing the people’s experiences that they share.” Tucked into the Cypress Hills


is another rancher who is a well- known cowboy poet in his own right. Scott Reesor


leans back in


his chair aſt er a late aſt ernoon snack and aff ectionately describes the poetic history of his family. On the countertop is a coil


bound book entitled Helen’s Poems and Stories. It is a collection of his mother’s work. “It is like music, it


really is,”


chimed in his wife T eresa. “Scott has shared oſt en and it has brought tears to people’s eyes.” T e Reesors run a Historic Bed


and Breakfast. Scott is oſt en known to entertain guests with snippets of poetry such as one his mother wrote entitled T e Old Home Place. “We are just the keepers of the


treasures,” summarized T eresa. In Cowtown, cowboy poetry is one of those treasures.


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