National Cowboy Poetry Gathering Week

Is this not the goofiest, most insane way to have fun with poetry you’ve ever heard of? If someone mentioned “cowbody poetry” to me, I would think of being an Okie from Muskogee, refusing to use a rocking chair, and rhyming the two with Mama, Elvis, and a favorite family dog. But really, think of the possibilities this week…

Learn about, write, and submit some cowboy poetry.

Wear a cowboy hat while you write. If you have it, wear a whole cowboy costume. (Then go shopping.)

Use this word bank for a poem: coyote, spurs, buckle, ranch, Texan, chaps, yodel, ten gallon hat, boots, lasso, cattle, beans, campfire, cactus, roundup.

Pick your favorite western character—Wyatt Earp, Yosemite Sam, anyone John Wayne played—and write a sonnet about his or her life in his or her tone of voice. Who would he or she be in love with? What secret dreams does your character have? Maybe he or she really longs to be a lounge singer, stockbroker, travel agent…

Listen to a country song and write a poem about how awful (or wonderful) it was. Or take every third word from the song and use them as a word bank for a poem.

Write a country/western song without using clichés. Then write one filled with nothing but clichés. Think of the country song that you most hate and set out to blow it out of the water. Do the same with one you like.

Eat a cowboy meal while you write. Put a stuffed cow on your desk. Paint a cactus and hang it on your bulletin board. Make your space inspire you from the west.

Pick some western flora and fauna—cactus blossoms, coyotes, roadrunners, armadillos—and write a poem either describing them or from their point of view.

Write a poem about a western. Use rules, like a haiku for every time you hear “Y’all” or “Stick ‘em up” and a limerick for every time someone spits.

Write about the traditional view of cowboys and “Indians.” Satirize it, debunk it, or use a book like Lies My Teacher Told Me to write something achingly true.

Watch Toy Story with your kids and write poems about Woody, Jessie, and Bullseye. Write poetic predictions for movie three, coming up this summer.

Pick a subgenre that you’re not familiar with and write about it. If you’re into spaghetti westerns, try a revisionist western. Tinker with a horror western, dabble into sci-fi western, or take a trip with an acid western.