About the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering

It all began as a time and place where western ranchers and cowboys could gather to share poems about their lives working cattle. Three decades later, the Gathering encompasses western poets, musicians, artisans, and storytellers, sharing their creativity from across cowboy country, telling their stories of hard work, heartbreak, and hilarity, and what it means to make your way in the rangeland West. The American West's ever-changing landscapes, communities, flora, and fauna have long inspired exploration, reflection, and creative expression. We are honored to invite western poets, songwriters, artists, artisans, and land stewards to bring new and old stories to light as they endeavor to create a West that hosts healthy and hospitable landscapes and agriculture-based communities. And, as they feed community well-being by carrying traditions forward meaningfully in their contemporary lives.