This odyssey began in a most unlikely way. On
a whim, in 1981, I had applied for and gotten a job working in the grain harvest in
Western Australia. A rainy spell freed me to drive the 150 miles into
Perth, where I happened into a pub in which the Mucky Duck Bush Band was
belting out old-time Aussie folk music to an enthusiastic crowd. Suddenly they
stopped playing music and one of their members, Roger Montgomery, stepped
forward and recited, from memory, A.B. “Banjo” Paterson’s The Man From
Ironbark. It was a riveting performance which changed my life.
Shortly
after returning home, a couple of musician friends and I started the
Urban Coyote Bush Band. I memorized a couple of Australian poems with which to
spice our performances and also began writing a few of my own. It was not
until 1990, though, that I became aware of a home-grown American poetic
tradition parallelling the Australian “bush poetry” phenomenon. It is called
cowboy poetry. Hearing of a gathering of such poets in Elko, Nevada, I
drove down to the event ands was amazed to witness recitations rivalling what I
had heard in Australia, to sold-out venues. I presented a few of my poems
in an open session, and the following year was invited as a featured
performer. I’ve been writing and reciting ever since, returning to
Australia four times in the past decade to perform poetry and songs in folk and
poetry festivals.
Some
of these poems are pure fantasy; others are part truth and part fiction; a few
are strictly factual. Mostly they are for entertainment. If a few
minor snippets of wisdom somehow slipped in,well and good. But I leave the
deeper truths to writers of greater perception and talent than I can
muster. I composed these poems for the ear, not the eye; for the stage,
not the page. Most cowboy and bush poets memorize their material so as to
more effectively relate to their listeners, without an intervening podium or piece
of paper to detract from the performance. These poems are meant to be
read or recited aloud. My hope is that readers may find some of these
selections worth sharing with others. ~ Dick Warwick
