Reader Willis Wayde asks if Robert W. Service would be considered a cowboy poet. I think so. He was certainly mentioned enough by people I talked with at the Cowboy Poetry Gathering. In 1917, by the way, Service's Rhymes of a Red Cross Man was the No. 1 general nonfiction best-seller. Of course, the cognoscenti look down on him, in large measure, I suspect, because he was popular -- and still is, in some circles.
And reader Meridith Gresher wonders if I have any pictures of the event. A few, and when I figure out how to post them here, I will.
Yeah, and the cognoscenti looked down on Rudyard Kipling, and now and then still do; they can't seem to make up their mind. Not saying he's a cowboy poet -- I can't, not being sure who or what one is -- merely saying that good stuff can be good stuff, no matter its provenance.
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