The Cache Valley Cowboy Rendezvous is presenting an evening at the barn on Tuesday at the American West Heritage Center. Doris Daley, one of the featured performers, is a Canadian cowgirl and poet. She says the energy and audience engagement at events such as these is invigorating.
“One of my goals is to bring my audience along on the ride with me. If there are 100 people in the audience, I hope that there are 100 different movies playing in their heads. I want to bring people along in my story, but I also hope that they are experiencing their own stories,” Daley said.
The event is open to one and all, not just cowboys and those living the western, rural lifestyle. This is why Daley prefers to call herself a western, rather than cowboy poet.
“Well, I sometimes wonder if our forefathers goofed up a little bit when they made the border between Canada and the United States when they made it run from west to east instead of north to south. Because I’ve done a lot of shows all over the west, and I mean from Texas to northern British Columbia, and I find the same people wherever I go. I find the same wonderful, generous, neighborly people in our small towns all over the west. That goes for Canada as well as the U.S.,” Daley said.
The themes in western poetry are universal, regardless of your background, she said. Here she recites one of her most famous poems entitled “Bones.”
Three cowboys sit on a split rail fence, Long on bruises, short on sense. Put 'em together and what do you get— Besides three pairs of jeans and a pile of debt. Add 'em all up and the sum of their parts Is 27 fingers and three broken hearts. 30 pretty toes, only 2 of them broke, Hide more scarred than the bark of an oak. Five good eyes, one made of glass, Three bum knees and a bad case of gas. Three strong backs—but all of them achin, And three mustached smiles filled with Copenhagen. A bottle of pills for a bad tick-tocker And a half-full prescription from Dr. Johnny Walker. A surgeon's nightmare sits on that rail, But they're married to the rodeo and bonded to the trail. They'll never be rich, they'll never be wealthy But they love the life-cause it's so darn healthy!
You can hear more poetry from Doris at Tuesday's “Barn Concert” which is scheduled to begin at 7:00 PM. For more details about this event, visit the Cache Valley Center for the Arts website.