Cowboy Poetry: Writing and Oral Presentation / K-12, Adult
About the Artist:
Anybody can write poetry! From his earliest childhood memories hearing his father recite Robert Service’s “The Shooting of Dan McGrew,” and his mother reading Alfred Noyes’ “The Highwayman” on winter evenings in the old ranch house, Lonnie has been enamored with the meaning and impact and beauty of words…how they can be strung together to evoke images and emotions. Music and lyric have been the driving force in his life ever since, whether writing and performing music in venues around the northwest, writing and producing radio copy, or creating and reciting cowboy poetry at gatherings in Oregon, Idaho, and Washington.
Residency Objectives:
Students will learn to write short, creative poems inspired by cowboy/western objects and images, and expressing the humor and pathos engendered by those objects and images.
Students will learn to work cooperatively with others by learning how to create a cowboy poem using input from the entire class, and culminating in a book of cowboy poetry showcasing their individual poetic efforts.
Staff and Community Offerings:
Community/teacher in-service focuses on the cultural and historical underpinnings of Cowboy Poetry and provides a mini-workshop on the creation and oral presentation of the art form.
If possible, each week closes with a public performance incorporating cowboy poetry and recognition of student’s achievements. This can be structured as a fund-raising effort if appropriate. It can also be used to raise the school’s profile in the community and may involve other artists and poets if desired.
Facilities and Supplies:
Cowboy poetry is an exuberant art form. We need a place where we can stand up and move around and wave our hands and interact with each other. We need to be able to write phrases and ideas and rhyming words so that all the students can see and participate. Supplies for handouts and booklets are those normally on hand in a school. We will need colored chalk or markers. The students need name tags of some sort.
Material Costs:
Material costs amount to those associated with perhaps a half dozen single page handouts of poems per student. Nothing further is required.
Connection to Other Subjects:
Use of language, analytic thought, self-conceptualization, creative writing skills and techniques, and public speaking opportunities contribute to the student’s ability to succeed in various academic disciplines.
Learning to recognize and value their own cultural heritage contributes to their ability to integrate into society as useful, creative citizens.
