The Cowboy Poetry of 'Doc' Hayes

Information on, and poems from, Doc Hayes are featured in "The Big Roundup: Classics and Contemporary Poetry from CowboyPoetry.com."

The Big Roundup is an anthology of the best classic and contemporary poems from CowboyPoetry.com. Each chapter begins with a classic poem or song, including the first rendition of "Home on the Range," Gail I. Gardner's "The Sierry Petes (or Tyin' Knots in the Devil's Tail)," Robert Service's "The Cremation of Sam Magee," and other traditional favorites such as "I Ride an Old Paint," and "Git Along Little Dogies."

Over 140 contemporary American, Canadian, English, and Australian poets are represented in The Big Roundup, including all the CowboyPoetry.com Honored Guests, Lariat Laureates and runners up, featured poets such as Red Steagall, and other top poets from CowboyPoetry.com.

The book includes a foreword by Dallas Morning News poetry reviewer Tom Mayo; a "Best of the West" appendix with international entries for the best Cowboy gatherings and events, organizations, and museums; and a full author, title and first line index.

This 432 page, quality trade paperback with full color original art cover has a retail price of $21.95, available for purchase by phone, mail, on the internet, at festivals, and in bookstores, museums and gift shops. Quantity discounts are available for resale opportunities for individuals and organizations.

Several of Doc's poems are featured in the "Folks' Poems" section of CowboyPoetry.com.

From the About Us page of the CowboyPoetry.com site: 

CowboyPoetry.com celebrates our Western heritage and today's working West, dedicated to preserving our important history and to promoting the Western arts that carry on those traditions.

We strive to be the best central resource--where all are welcome--for information about Western and Cowboy Poetry and associated arts.

Doc's poem, "Blowing Snow" was featured in April 2006 on Wacobelle.org - The Cowboy Poetry of Casey's Corral:

H. D. Koerner’s painting Hard Winter (below), originally appeared as a black and white reproduction illustrating the novella entitled Short Grass, by Hal G. Evarts. The text and its images were serialized in The Saturday Evening Post from the third week of May 1932 through July of that same year. Hard Winter revealed a tragic figure who experienced the hardships of the western frontier. This painting is notable in that regard; it stripped the romanticism often associated with cowboy mythology as portrayed in most western paintings at the time. In the featured poem Blowing Snow, Doc Hayes does likewise.

Blowing Snow

On the Lesser Slave I froze. I'm here to tell you how I froze.
You know you just can not believe how cold that wind blows.
At 45 below the moaning of the wind becomes a living mournful noise.
Elizabeth Anne left me and she took the little girl and the boys.
And our cabin became a cold and dead thing,
As cold and as lonely as when the wolves sing
The news of the death of a rider on the ice whose horse has broken through
Or when starvation takes another Indian at the reserve on the Louchoux.

On the Lesser Slave, I froze. Oh let me bear witness how I froze.
The cheap whiskey took my mind and the ice took my fingers and toes.
I forgot about my cattle and I drove my horses away.
I was drunk through each night and slept through most of each day,
My lips frost bit and the cold sealed up my mouth
While I laid in my buffalo robes and ached for the woman who'd gone south.

I guess I would have died wrapped in self pity and buffalo hide
Except Rupert Broken Leg Wolf and his new Hobema wife
Came by, looking for a place to get warm, and they saved my life.
They started up the fires and they pulled me back into my head,
Though now I curse them when the memories flood back and I'm almost dead
For want of that woman, when the wind blows,
And the memory of her drifts about me like the blowing snows.

Dale "Doc" Hayes ©1975, renewed© 2001

reprinted, with permission, from http://wacobelle.org/dochayes.htm

The Cowboy Poetry of Casey's Corral presents a complete entertainment package featuring cowboy poetry, audio, art work by Western artists including Charles M. Russell, Frederick Remington and N. C. Wyeth; along with cowboy western poems by outstanding western poets; and historic accounts of the Old West.

Wacobelle Productions Casey's Corral of Cowboy Poetry Cowboy - western poetry, featuring art work of Russell, Remington and other Western artists.. Charlie Russell's Stagecoach Cowboy Poetry. Web site dedicated to memory of western artist, Charles M. Russell. The Range Writers Features classic cowboy / bush poetry of a bygone era, along with bio of favorite olden day poets. Contact: wacobelle@msn.com

"Cowboy Poets: Minstrels of the West" makes you want to pack a bag and head north. The video's beautifully filmed performances and stunning scenery make for great armchair traveling to three top Canadian gatherings in Manitoba, Alberta, and British Columbia. The film opens with lush panoramas graced by "When Cowboys Rode as Kings" by Ben Crane (written by poet Bryn Thiessen); the song itself is worth the price of the video. The opening gathering scenes show Manitoba professor and poet Dale (Doc) Hayes reciting his "Shorty," with performances of the poem at all three gatherings artfully spliced together. And it just gets better in this professional, well-edited production that has aired on Canadian television.

You have a front row seat and a free ticket to shows that include American and Canadian AWA-nominated poets Chris Isaacs, Mike Puhallo, and Thiessen, all giving polished performances of classics and their own work. Puhallo's recitation of his "Sacred Orb" as he saddles his horse is unforgettable. There is plenty of humor and a good selection of serious poetry. Excellent musical talent includes performances by Juanita Clayton (with an autobiographical yodeling song), Ray Martin (award-winning Manitoba musician) and Ed Brown (also an artist and poet).

There's a wonderful growing trend of poets, musicians, and fans crossing borders among gatherings in the U. S. and Canada, and this video should go a long way toward encouraging those migrations. The video is available postpaid for $25.00 (US); Shadowland Productions, 51070 Range Road 221, Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada T8E 1G8; 866-269-2698 or from www.SilverCreekMusic.com.

Review by Margo Metegrano, CowboyPoetry.com

From the filmmakers:

COWBOY POETS: MINSTRELS OF THE WEST
A Video Collection of Cowboy Poetry and Music – Volume 1

What is the definition of cowboy poetry? Dale (Doc) Hayes explains it best: He recalls being in a poetry competition at a gathering in Alberta, Canada. "I felt I had the competition aced. Though the fellow sitting next me was feeling pretty confident, too. A mutual friend of ours got up and did a couple of poems. He wasn't a very dynamic poet, but a darn good one. Then he started doing this poem about having to put down his 14-year-old blue healer dog. I tell ya, a minute into the poem, and every woman in that audience was crying and most of the men were blowin' their noses, and I hit my friend in the ribs and said I think we just lost this poetry competition. Because he was talking about the everyday experience of a person’s life and that's what cowboy poetry is all about."

Cowboy Poets-Minstrels of the West is a video collection of cowboy poetry and music. It is volume 1 of a series featuring some of Canada's finest, with a visit from an American icon. Forty-eight minutes of laughter and tears with poetry by Dale (Doc) Hayes, Mike Puhallo, Will Rogers Award Nominee and rancher- turned-poet, Bryn Thiessen.

This production was produced in the summer of 2001, over the course of 10 days and three poetry gatherings. We visited the 2nd Annual Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Brandon, Manitoba; the Pincher Creek Gathering in Alberta (largest in Canada); and a Cowboy Festival held at the Historic O'Keefe Ranch located near Vernon, BC.

While producing this video, Hired Gun Productions put together a documentary, also titled Cowboy Poets-Minstrels of the West. This documentary will air across Canada in early 2002 on the Global Network. The US broadcast date is pending.

And you can.... buy it at www.SilverCreekMusic.com