We drove to Medora this Memorial Day weekend to participate in the 36th Annual Dakota Cowboy Poetry Gathering for which I had worked up a few things and presented. Bill Lowman and his wife JoAnn are the founders and managers of the affair and have earned the distinction of the gathering’s induction into the Library of Congress as a “local legacy” for its format to record and embrace the American cowboy culture.
The first event featured an hour long program on Badger Clark, South Dakota’s first poet laureate. A songstress, Pegie Douglas from Hill City, SD, was featured singing songs based on his poetry. One thing of note: she sang the most beautiful version of “Spanish Is the Loving Tongue” that I’ve ever heard. She is good and we heard from her throughout the gathering at other times, too.
Some of the same faces show up each year and along with new ones, too. My favorites are the good guitarists who play solo or act as backup to others who want their accompaniment. Two partners, Brent Voigt from Rhame and Vickie Hill from Turtle Lake play together as a duo, he the guitarist and she the bass player. One other standout is John Lardinois from Bismarck. He plays a guitar he built himself, and it was a sweet one. He joked that it took him two years to build and when finished a friend told him, “Ya know, stores sell them.” One other that I’ve gotten to know a bit is Tom Brousseau from Grand Forks. He said his grandmother taught him the guitar and she did a good job of it.
We enjoy hanging around scenes like this and I’ve already got some topics to develop for next year. Regarding the Badlands, I don’t remember seeing them so green. Green grows even on the almost-vertical hillsides. Given the appearance of it, I thought it gave me a completely different perspective of the scene. They love the rain out there, but we drove in rain all the way back and the farm fields are WET.
A bit of explanation of the pictures - Bill Lowman is surprised when I took his picture. I swear, that handlebar grows longer each year - The video shows me getting a reaction with a poem - Two group pictures show some of the musical numbers - Deer met met me as I walked out of the motel room.
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