Cowboy Curmudgeon and Other Poems

By Wallace McRae

Wally McRae is a classic among today's cowboy poets. He recites his poems regularly on a syndicated television program, "The West," and often is a featured performer at the annual Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko. He has performed at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, among other places. In 1990 McRae became the first cowboy poet to be granted a National Heritage Award from the NEA in Washingto, D.C. And all this while managing his family's 30,000-acre cow-calf ranch in Forsyth, Montana.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879054638
• ISBN13: 9780879054632
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up

Customer Reviews

Poet lariat. . .

Wallace McRae is a cowboy's cowboy poet. A rancher from Forsyth, Montana, with a gift of language, humor, and heart that makes his work rise far above the mainstream of this particular brand of American literature. This book is a collection of over 50 of his most popular poems, including classics such as "Reincarnation" and "Give Us a Song, Ian Tyson."Writing in western vernacular, with clever turns of phrase and imaginative turns of thought, he covers a range of subjects from cowboys and ranching to boot shopping and hollyhocks. There are poems on gooseberries, coyotes, and the change of seasons, and many are tongue in cheek, like a cross-cultural conversation with a hippie and cataloging the trials of raising a son who takes after yourself. Yes, many of the poems are "curmudgeonly." He complains about hunters and tourists, Californians and city folk in general, the environmental and social havoc of strip mining and clear cutting, and people who want to off-load their unwanted pets and unruly kids in the country. But just as often there is heart-felt sentiment, in the loss of a good hired hand who moves on, the loss of a neighbor whose ranch gets foreclosed, the retirement of an old rodeo bareback rider.McRae's poems belong on anyone's shelf of western literature. He's the genuine article.

Cowboy Curmudgeon

Great poems with a humerous twist and a unique view of life on a working Montana ranch.

Cowboy Poetry don't git no better'n this!!!!!!

This is one that you'll not put aside until you git done with it. Laughter, tears, plain ol' country. If you ain't Country, You ain't. Now I see that all o' the rest of Wallie's books are outta print. Gotta say somethin' great!!!