Grazing casually out on the western prairie, a herd of cattle await the roundup from local ranchers. In the old days, cowboys gathered the cattle with horses. Yet, in the 21st century, rounding up cattle requires a new method to fit the modern technology: gathering cattle with Yamaha motorcycles.
      This scenario is one of many being produced by modern cowboy poets. The traditional cowboy culture lives on in poetry and in writing from cowboys and frontier people traveling west during the early 1900s. Yet, today, poets write about new ideas and customs. Many still hold on to traditional ideas, while others merge new technologies and standards into their poetry.
“I’m writing a lot more about North Dakota, being from this place, and the history of this place,” said Shadd Piehle, cowboy poet. “The people that were first writing poetry here were Indians and that’s some of the most beautiful poetry to ever come from this area.”
     Piehle was raised outside Minot, N.D. As a young man, Piehle was active in the Midwest rodeo scene, riding bulls and saddle horses and competing in roping events. The young cowboy was strongly influenced by his father, who was a well-known bronco rider and rodeo announcer, and his grandfather, who was a stock rodeo contractor.
     Traveling across the Midwest prairie, Piehle competed in small rodeos in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana. Following graduation from high school, Piehle attended North Dakota State University in Fargo. It was at NDSU that he began writing about his rodeo experiences and what it meant to be a modern day cowboy.
     “I was writing about the things that I knew, mostly horses and rodeo,” Piehle said. “Because of that, I got caught up in the genre called cowboy poetry.”
     Cowboy poetry has long been a staple in Midwest culture. Since the Civil War, cowboys have written and spoken about wilderness, animals and rural life.
     Although very American in content, cowboy poetry combines customs and traditions from around the world to create unique, often abrasive and real poetry. The result draws influences from Irish storytelling, Scottish cattle tending, Spanish horsemanship, European cavalry traditions, African improvisation and Native-American experiences — all to create a brand of poetry that rings true to America.
      Currently a private investigator and an English teacher at Aaker’s Business College, Piehle quit doing rodeos four years ago, following two knee surgeries and a broken back. Yet, he is quick to comment that cowboy lifestyles and traditions are still a big part of his life and his writing.
     “I’ve been lucky because I have that background as a cowboy,” Piehle said. “I’m not much of a cowboy anymore, but I’ve had that background that has given me a lot more opportunities to be paid to read poetry. The poetry has opened a lot of doors for me.”
     Piehle began kicking down the doors of opportunity while at NDSU. The eager writer met NDSU English professor David Martinson, who introduced Piehle to the world of poetry. Piehle then sent some poems to John Dofflemyer, publisher of Dry Creek Review in California. Dofflemyer suggested that Piehle send a tape of his work to the Western Folklife Center in Elko, Nev. To his surprise, Piehle was invited to participate in Elko’s annual Cowboy Poetry Gathering.
       The Cowboy Poetry Gathering was created in 1985 by the National Endowment of the Arts to keep the cowboy oral tradition alive. Today, the national gathering is one of the largest poetry gatherings in the nation.
      Through the gathering and several others like it, Piehle has helped resurrect a form of poetry that had changed and adapted to the modern day urbanization of past years.
     “I think cowboy poetry exists somewhere in that middle between real academic published work … and the poetry slams,” Piehle said. “It’s a real wide-range genre with a lot of different voices.”
     In North Dakota, ranching and rodeos are a big part of the rural lifestyle. Every year, cowboys and poets come to Medora, N.D., for the Dakota Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Bill Lowman founded the gathering that draws 100 poets and singers for the two-day event held over Memorial Day weekend.
      “The true spirit of the event is entertainment,” said Merrill Piepkorn, host of “Here and Now,” a North Dakota Public Radio daily talk show. “People gather together to share stories, songs and poems. What draws us together are the real people with real western experiences.”
     Piepkorn has attended the event for the past ten years and has helped as master of ceremonies for the gathering. Piepkorn, like other cowboy poets and fans, travels to Medora each year to be a part of the poetry event.
     Poets attending the gathering often range from traditional Western cowboys to modern ranchers and farmers across the Midwest. Piehle believes the genre of cowboy poetry has room for all voices.
     “Ten years ago, when I first got into this, I was seen as a real radical,” Piehle said. “There used to be a real, thick friction between cowboy poets and more loose, free-verse, modern poets. That conflict has dissipated. There is a wide voice in cowboy poetry.”
     Piehle has been keeping the tradition alive for the past few years with performances throughout Fargo-Moorhead and the surrounding area. Last year, along with Montana musician D.W. Groethe, Piehle performed some of his poems at Wild West Day at Bonanzaville in West Fargo. The poet is also working toward a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Minnesota State University Moorhead, where his thesis is an account of one year in the life of a rodeo cowboy.
     From the early cattle drives to current cowboy gatherings to local readings at coffeehouses and fairs, cowboy poetry has gone through a transformation from a simple narrative into a statement about western lifestyles. Through it all, the genre of cowboy poetry has upheld the values and customs of cowboy lifestyles and maintained an understanding for the hardships and joys of being a cowboy.
     “It’s a vibrant, interesting, alive sub-genre of poetry,” Piehle said. “It’s poetry that has had a defined audience. I hope that it is a genre that keeps changing. The cowboy life has been dead for years, but the poetry has adapted and changed. Where it’s going in the 21st century, I don’t know. But I think it’s there.”