We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
Dale Mailand, from Harlem and an organizer of the annual poets and pickers gathering in Chinook, is pictured reading a "late Christmas greeting" to the folks at the Chinook Senior Center. Several musicians and poets joined the local 'kitchen band' that routinely plays on Fridays.
Margaret Wilhelm, a poet from White Sulphur Springs, entertained at the recent poet and pickers roundup hosted in Chinook. Wilhelm has been doing cowboy poetry for more than 15 years. She is one of a very few female poets who participate in cowboy poet gatherings around the west.
Del Poff, at left with banjo, has played several performances at the annual Western Heritage Roundup held in Chinook over the last several years. The event is a fundraiser for the Chinook High FFA chapter and gathering for cowboy poets and pickers. Even with the late date in the spring, organizers said several performers canceled because of snow covered roads.
If I'm tracking correctly this is my fourth time attending the Montana Country Poets and Pickers Western Heritage Roundup. The 2018 edition, and the 24th annual event in the series, met in mid-April in Chinook with venues shared between the CHS auditorium for the nightly, organized performances and the Chinook Inn meeting room for the more informal jam sessions and new poets' readings. The cowboy gathering is also a fundraiser for Chinook High's FFA chapter. The chapter helps promote, organize and support the Western Heritage Roundup.
Some readers may recall the dates of the annual gathering were changed a few years ago from late January or early February to later in the year, like mid-April this year. Dale Mailand, a Harlem resident and one of the main organizers of the local poets and pickers gathering, said the change was, "To avoid some of the bad winter weather and assure people could make it to Chinook." This year Mailand said there were four cancellations of performers for the evening events (the evening musicians and poets are 'invited' to perform) because of 'bad roads.' Another notch for Mother Nature regarding the winter of 2017-18.
With some adroit maneuvering of artists, Mailand got a really nice program together for the first evening. One of the poets was Margaret Wilhelm of White Sulphur Springs. I'd heard a couple of female poets do cowboy poetry in the past, one I recall did a great poem about helping her husband sort cows. But, really, there are not a large number of females who perform at the cowboy gatherings. Wilhelm had several really good poems about life on the ranch or on a horse, those typical cowboy poetry topics.
Then she switched gears a bit and prefaced a poem with a story of her joining a writers' seminar a few years ago. Wilhelm shared, "After the dozen or so of us were seated around a large table, we were asked to introduce ourselves and tell what kind of writing we did. There were novelists, short story writers, poets, all sorts of writers. When they got to me I said, "I write cowboy poetry." There was a deathly silence in the room."
Moving into a narrative of the situation set to poetry, Wilhelm told how the group debated whether what she did was really writing. She said, "They finally concluded that cowboy poetry is 'folk art' but is not 'legitimate writing.'" Wilhelm told the audience in Chinook, "So I guess you're here to listen to illegitimate poetry." There was a loud laugh from the audience.
Wilhelm then did a series of poems where she imagined how famous (legitimate) writers' works would have been different if they'd grown up in our western culture. Here's Magaret Wilhelm's rendition of how Shakespeare's cowboys might have urged cattle to move: "Sally forth ye bovine beasties, Hie thee to the gate in yon fence. Mother-up ye milky mooies, get thy beefy arses hence." Needless to say, the audience got it and loved it! After the evening show I asked Wilhelm if I could quote her Shakespearian cowboys in my story about the poets and pickers. She graciously said yes.
Asked how she got interested in writing cowboy poetry, Wilhelm told she had always liked to write and has been doing cowboy poetry for about 15 or so years. Early on she attended a cowboy gathering down in Riverton, Wyoming where she registered for a writing clinic that was part of the gathering.
Unbeknownst to her, a friend signed her up to perform with other new poets. Wilhem said, "I was really nervous and struggled through my first public performance of cowboy poetry." As she left the stage a famous cowboy poet from Oregon tapped her on the shoulder and said, "Don't give up. You have a gift for this." That got her motivated and she began to perfect her craft.
She admits her style and topics are not standard cowboy poetry fare. She added, "There are fewer female comedians than males. I think cowboy poetry is a bit like standup comedy. Men can get by with saying more outrageous things than women."
Asked about the future of cowboy poetry and gatherings to present it, she said, "Well, you can look around here and see the performers and audience members are all aging. In my travels I don't see a lot of young performers nor do I see young people in the audiences." Another example of the challenges she cited was the declining number of gatherings of poets and pickers. She said, "There used to be five or six every year in Montana. Now there or about three still going, including this one in Chinook."
Without painting too grim of a picture, there are still people who drive through snowstorms (like Wilhelm did) to come to gatherings-both to perform and listen. There's an obvious enjoyment the folks who attend gatherings share with the people they've met over the years. Most everyone seems to know most everyone.
One of the pickers sang his own version of a tune made famous by Willie Nelson. Warren Taylor, a picker from Malta, sang, "Mommas, do let your babies grow up to be cowboys and cowgirls." Maybe the tide will turn and there'll be a new interest in cowboy poetry and music by both boys and girls. And, someday, people might not even think to ask, "Is 'female cowboy poet' really an oxymoron?"
