In his groundbreaking essay "Can Poetry Matter?" (reprinted here), Dana Gioia suggested that many types of poetry, assumed by some readers to be marginal art, should not so easily be deleted from mainstream American literature. Throughout the twentieth century, perhaps no important writing has been as seriously -- and mistakenly -- overlooked by the literati as Cowboy poetry. Essentially connected to the folk tale, to legend, myth, the ballad, and song, and vitally enhanced by the contemporary voices of independent ranch women, Cowboy poetry vividly connects us to our past and our fragile, threatened natural environment. The writers included here, both working horse-and-cattle people and mainstream authors, share the brand of bold expression and independent thought found only among the best literary artists. Here is not literary theory. Here is literary life. An anthology as diverse as America herself! The poets in McDowell's anthology take up one challenge set forth in Dana Gioia's renowned 1991 essay, "Can Poetry Matter?" --to re-engage with the world of work. These are poems about labor by poets who, even if they don't now ranch or farm, know plenty about working horses. Most know cattle raising, though they don't write much in its lingo. Certainly cultural nostalgia for the Wild West hooks us into reading the poems, but nostalgia and the rugged individualism with which cowboys are thoughtlessly encumbered aren't their stock-in-trade. Instead, the qualities that predominate are hard, painful work; the fellowship of those, including the horses, who do it; and the stunning beauties and otherness of the natural world in which it is done. Yes, many poems are sentimental, but they don't all rhyme or trip along in ballad meters, and many of the best are by women, especially Linda M. Hasslestrom, Linda Hussa, and Linda McCarriston. The accompanying memoirs by Hussa and Wallace McRae are also outstanding, and the critical essays that round out the book aren't bad, either. Ray Olson Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved The Medicine Keepers by J. B. Allen Nighthawk Notions by J. B. Allen Reasons For Stayin' by J. B. Allen Treasures by J. B. Allen Wisps by J. B. Allen The Lion by Virginia Bennett Social Justice by Virginia Bennett Such Control by Virginia Bennett Tapestry Of Knots by Virginia Bennett Calvin' by Jon Bowerman The Hunter by Jon Bowerman Last Visit With The Banker by Jon Bowerman The Runaways by Jon Bowerman The Saturday Matinee by Jon Bowerman Charlie Jones by Robert R. Brown Mysterious Maiden by Robert R. Brown Old Never by Robert R. Brown Bareback by Laurie Wagner Buyer Kneading Bread by Laurie Wagner Buyer Letters by Laurie Wagner Buyer Madge by Laurie Wagner Buyer Smell Of Sage by Laurie Wagner Buyer Sunderance by Laurie Wagner Buyer When I Came West by Laurie Wagner Buyer Wooing The Wanton Mare by Laurie Wagner Buyer The Aliens by John Dofflemeyer One, April by John Dofflemeyer To Have A Man by John Dofflemeyer Twenty-sixth Winter by John Dofflemeyer After This by Tami Haaland August by Tami Haaland Finding The Trail by Tami Haaland Names Of Horses by Donald Hall Beef Eater by Linda M. Hasselstrom Butchering The Crippled Heifer by Linda M. Hasselstrom Coffee Cup Cafe by Linda M. Hasselstrom Hands by Linda M. Hasselstrom Haying: A Four-part Definition by Linda M. Hasselstrom My Last Will And Testament by Linda M. Hasselstrom What The Falcon Said by Linda M. Hasselstrom Dear Child by Linda Hussa Give Us Rain! by Linda Hussa I Fix The Fence - The Fence Fixes Me by Linda Hussa In The Evening Autumn by Linda Hussa Love Letters by Linda Hussa The Man Shoeing A Horse And His Little Girl by Linda Hussa Playing At Doctor by Linda Hussa Swans by Linda Hussa The Barn by Tony Johnston So Many Horses by Tony Johnston To The Wild Pony by Tony Johnston Whispers by Tony Johnston The Agnostic Speaks To Her Horse's Hoof by Maxine W. Kumin Amanda In Shod by Maxine W. Kumin Feeding Time by Maxine W. Kumin Thinking Of Death And Dogfood by Maxine W. Kumin Bucked by Linda Mccarriston Girl From Lynn Bathes Horse!! by Linda Mccarriston Le Coursier De Jeanne D'arc by Linda Mccarriston On Horseback by Linda Mccarriston Riding Out At Evening by Linda Mccarriston A Thousand Genuflections by Linda Mccarriston With The Horse In The Winter Pasture by Linda Mccarriston Grandmother's French Hollyhocks by Wallace Mcrae Malcolm And The Stranglers by Wallace Mcrae Riders' Block by Wallace Mcrae Sold To The Highest Bidder by Wallace Mcrae Things Of Intrinsic Worth by Wallace Mcrae We Never Rode The Judiths by Wallace Mcrae A Woman's Place by Wallace Mcrae Breaker In The Pen by Joel Nelson The Men Who Ride No More by Joel Nelson The Shadow On The Cutbank by Joel Nelson Shady Valleys by Joel