ATDTDA (17): Cowboy poets (463.5) and a question

[Tim Strzechowski]

Okay ... I need to backtrack here for a second because it occurs to me that my original post inexplicably never made it thru:

"Cowboy poets might allege how the noise 'echoed off the steep mountainside' and on down the valley, but right on the spot, why it was too exotic a sound to carry much of any message, at least for no more than a few, though certain taverns on the way in, and even some going out, of town had already offered hospitality to the bands of riders" (p. 463).


Cowboy poetry grew out of a tradition of extemporaneous composition carried on by workers on cattle drives and ranches. After a day of work, cowboys would gather around a campfire and entertain one another with tall tales and folk songs. Illiteracy was common, so poetic forms were employed to aid memory.

Contrary to common belief, cowboy poetry does not actually have to be written by cowboys, though adherents would claim that authors should have some connection to the cowboy life such that they can write poetry with an "insider's perspective". [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy_poetry

Some examples here:

http://www.geocities.com/rodnichols.geo/cowboy.html

http://www.clantongang.com/oldwest/trade.htm

http://www.westernfolklife.org/site/


... and for our next P-lister holiday gathering:

http://www.cowboyrudy.com/cbyptsoc.htm


By the way, what do we make of these last two paragraphs?  In the former, Frank enters the Hotel Noctambulo where communication is everywhere, evident in the projects, neighborly rapport, and "festive crowd."  In the latter, the "strange motorcycles" roar with a sound that is "too exotic ... to carry much of any message."  Two paragraphs that stress the communicable and incommunicable nature of Fickle Creek.  Ideas?