Western & Cowboy Weblog

I've recently learned that my latest book, Western Images, is in the competition for three awards...the Will Rogers Medallion award for cowboy poetry, the Washington State Book Award for poetry, and the cowboy poetry book award by the Western Music Association (WMA). The book is available through virtually any internet or local bookseller.

In addition, I've been nominated as cowboy poet of the year and for the best collaboration between a poet and musician in the WMA competion. The later nomination is for my lyrics for "Come Riding With Me" which was set to music by Sue Matley (aka Cimarron Sue) and which appears on the commercial album Herds, Horses, and Song released last year by Nevada Slim and Cimarron Sue. The song can be auditioned on the internet by clicking here.

Unlike a lot of folks today, cowboys have always been willing to stand up for what they believe. So, it's sorta sickening to see so many letters and comments on the internet which don't identify their authors.

Even sites sponsored by some newspapers (which are very thorough about vetting letters they actually include in their printed papers) permit the use of phony and anonymous signatures on their internet pages.

Seems to me that, if you really believe in what you're saying, you should be willing to sign your name and not hide your identity. A cowboy might regard that practice as right down cowardly and sorta like tryin' to rope a steer while you're blindfolded...you ain't gonna convince folks any more than you're gonna catch that steer!

At the urging of a friend, I've set up a personal page on Facebook under my name Clark Crouch and have established a Western & Cowboy Poetry Group linked on that page. Discussion is welcome on either site.

There have been a number of inquiries as to how to order my books. All five can be ordered through any local or internet bookseller. Major booksellers known to have the books listed in their online directories include:

Amazon [United States, Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom]
Barnes & Noble
Books-a-Million
Borders
Powells
Thirdplace

The books are available to booksellers at trade discounts through standard distribution channels such as Ingram, Baker & Taylor, etc. in the United States and Bertrams, Gardners, etc., in other countries.

Books currently in print include the following. The first three listed contain poems in traditional ballad form with rhyme and meter while the last two contain poems in a free form style.

Western Images: western & cowboy poetry by Clark Crouch. ISBN 0-9624438-5-9. The Resource Network, Richland, WA 2007.
Sun, Sand & Soapweed: original western and cowboy poetry. ISBN 0-9624438-3-2. The Resource Network, Richland, WA, 2005.
Where Horses Reign: western poetry. ISBN 0-9624438-1-6. The Resource Network, Richland, WA, 2004.
Reflections: a second poetic journal of life, attitude, and remembrance. ISBN 0-595-29264-X. iUniverse, Lincoln, NE, 2003.
Voices of the Wind: a poetic journal of life, attitude, and remembrance. ISBN 0-595-26328-3. iUniverse, Lincoln, NE, 2002.

Note: The Resource Network publishes under the imprint "Western Poetry Publications" and is now based in Bothell, Washington.

I've just finished reading a new book, One Step Over the Border, by Stephen Bly of Winchester, Idaho. It's the story of two modern rodeo cowboy buddies, Laramie Majors and Hap Bowman. They're on a quest through the Southwest to find Juanita, Hap's lost childhood love.

Bly really captures the reality of today's west...from four-by-fours to cattle drives to a contest with a one horned bull in a rodeo concession stand to a succession of interesting characters...as he traces the adventures of the two cowboys in their search for that one elusive Juanita. Reading this book sort of brings back memories of your own Juanita, that 12-year-old gal who captured your heart so many years ago, and you begin to vicariously cheer for Hap’s success.

The author is the mayor of Winchester and has authored some ninety-five books and hundreds of articles. He knows what he's talking about and has produced a good read for anyone who enjoys a tale of mystery, adventure, and our western heritage all crafted with good humor.

One Step Over the Border, ISBN 1-59995-689-6, published by Center Street (a division of Hachette Book Group), June 2007.

I've just listed my blog with Technorati.

My information appears at Technorati Profile.

Immigration wasn't an issue when our nation's cattle empires were being established in the west. Vaqueros from Mexico freely crossed over and many stayed on to share their herding skills with our folks. I reckon everyone benefitted from that experience.

Things are different today and more than 12-million folks are in the United States illegally. Now that the senate has turned down that infamous "Incomprehensible Immigration Law," I heard that advocates for amnesty might seek presidential "Libby" pardons for the illegals enmass! All they'd have to do is check in, confess their illegal status, and the pardon would be automatically granted by presidential decree. Wow! That'd be a real end run around Congress and the will of the people!

I've just received a copy of the first issue of a new western magazine, Open Range. It's a beautiful publication with exceptional photography and a number of very interesting features. Just as an aside, I appreciate the fact that it features my poem, "Open Range," on the inside back cover and an article about my work plus another poem, "Killer," on the inside. I'm looking forward to meeting the staff when I visit Glenrock, Wyoming to do a community program for them next October.

The Western Music Association recently extended it's membership and activities to include western and cowboy poets. Their site now has me listed as a performer.

A Cincinnati federal appeals court panel of three judges, two of which were Bush appointees, today rejected a lawsuit which challenged President Bush's warrentless wiretapping without ruling on the issue of whether warrantless wiretapping is legal.

In effect, the court said that the plaintiffs were not personally impacted by the wiretaps and, therefore, had no standing to sue the government. I reckon that's sorta like saying you can't try a man for murder because you, yourself, haven't been murdered.

Seems to me that our heritage as a nation of laws demands that court decisions be based on law and not on politics!

I was asked why I sometimes include current topics, such as the political issues of today, on a western and cowboy weblog. It's because I have, perhaps, a different point of view than many folks of today due to where and how I was raised.

Being a child of the Great Depression and growing up in rural Nebraska in the midst of a major drought in the 1930's and 40's does sorta temper the way a fellow views the issues of today. I've seen poverty, hunger, despair, and death but I've also seen the hard work, resilience, determination, and a lingering pioneer spirit as the people of that time faced these issues.

It all does influence my viewpoint and brings forth my biases as I sneak up on 80 years of age and observe the brilliant, the stupid, the heartwarming, and the discouraging things which occur here and elsewhere in the world.

Back in my youth, my dad bought a real talented cowdog, sort of a mixed heritage version of a border collie. Barker was his name and he could cut out a given critter from a herd and take it to whatever location dad pointed out. But, beyond that, he rounded up the milk cows each evening, no matter where they were in that full section of our prairie pasture, and herded them into the corral to be milked. For some table scraps and some doggie pancakes that mom made for him, old Barker worked his tail off...so to speak.

There's a poem about Barker on my website.

I learned early on that you can't get from Nogales to Boise in one step. But some of our politicians haven't learned that yet. Take the so-called comprehensive immigration bill. Everything they could think of was put in that thing and it wound up to be incomprehensible rather than comprehensive. It also had some weird things in it such as allowing convicted criminals to become naturalized and limiting background investigations to 24-hours in granting legal residence.

In my "Even the longest journey begins with a single step." mentality, it seems like the issue should be addressed one step at a time. Like, as a first step, fully enforcing the laws already on the books. That would better secure our borders, severely fine employers who hire those who are here illegally,  force "sanctuary" cities to comply with the law, remove federal tax exemptions for churches which cross the line separating church and state, and put us on the right track to address related issues one at a time and in a comprehensible manner.

It isn't a well-known fact but my grandfather, William H. Crouch, was a poker playing buddy of Buffalo Bill Cody. In the late 1800's and early 1900's they played at locations in Nebraska and Wyoming. The picture at the left shows my grandfather (second from the right) playing poker with some of his other buddies, unfortunately Buffalo Bill wasn't part of the group when the photo was taken. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Wayne Nelson, a poet and musician of Idaho, introduced me to the mouthbow, an ancient one-string instrument. He had made his of a branch from a sagebrush plant. I took the easy way and ordered one made by a craftsman in the Cumberland Gap. In appearance the mouthbow is much like it's ancestor, the hunting bow, and has a history which is said to go back 40,000 years.

The bow is played by holding the tip to the cheek across the mouth and tapping, picking, or strumming the string to produce a basic tone while the player alters the shape of his mouth cavity to produce the harmonics.

I first played the instrument in public at the annual Sacajawea Bluegrass Festival in Pasco, Washington in early June of this year. It was quite well received, in part I am sure, because of its unique appearance and sound.