In our restless, confused society, there is a yearning for a connection to the land; for the sound of the human voice; for simple, natural truth. Cowboy poetry, says the Portland Oregonian, "is sort of like country music: It's straight talk, dealing with fundamentals, using images that you can touch. . . . In this beautifully presented book, Anne Heath Widmark has compiled the works of twelve Western bards who excel at the form."

These twelve poets, through biographical and photographic portraits and their own poems, acquaint us with a diverse tradition tied to the rhythms of land, animals, and seasons. Among the cowboy poets who make up this book, we meet Wally McRae, a third-generation rancher from Forsyth, Montana; Paul Zarzyski, a former bronc rider with a master's in literature; and Linda Hussa, a buckaroo who ranches with her husband in the "sagebrush corner" of northeastern California. Their poems ride free over the range of human experience.