R. J. (DICK) MORTON
Colorado Springs, Colorado
About Dick Morton

 

 

City Kid 

I'm just a  kid who grew up in the west
And ranching isn't  the thing I do best.

Now you might be thinking that I'm just a dude
And I never saw a cow horse being shoed.

I rode many horses in years that went by
There were some reasons and I'll tell you why.

When I joined the army, the 8th Cavalry.
We all rode horses on weekends you see.

I was sent to Japan and the horses were to.
You ask why the horses? I wondered that too.

Then I married a ranchers daughter for sure.
As far as I know that was  all right with her.

I know her father was pleased as could be,
He had a new hand who'd be working for free.

I soon learned the ropes, at least one thing or two
Like shoveling silage at minus two two.

I helped fix the fence which was lots of fun too,
But how to dig post holes I already knew.

Round up and branding were my special thing.
I ear marked the little calves ears in the ring.

I was a City Kid whose life did change,
When I had the chance to be out on the range.

© Dick Morton
This poem may not be reprinted or reposted without the author's written permission.
 

About R. J. (Dick) Morton:

Dick is a Colorado native whose grandparents settled in Colorado in the 1870s. He served in the 8th Cavalry during WW II and says, "We still had horses in my outfit and rode whenever we had the chance." After college he married a rancher's daughter (Jane Morton). His "ranch education" came on her dad's 14,000 acre cow/calf operation. He got "broke in" fixin' fence and windmills, shovelling silage, working cattle, roundup and branding.

By learning the classics, he passes on the "cowboy heritage" of the great early day poets. Among those are poems by S. Omar Barker, Bruce Kiskaddon, Sharlot Hall, Charles Badger Clark, Henry Herbert Knibbs, E. A. Brininstool, Buck Ramsey and several anonymous poets. Dick has been invited to perform at gatherings throughout Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, Wyoming and Colorado. He took home the championship buckle as a reciter at the 2005 National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo in Kanab, Utah.

His CD, Cowboy Classics, was recognized in Western Horseman magazine, April 2007, where the review states, "There is no doubt his cowboy training has allowed him to present the classic poems in an authentic form."

His recitation of Badger Clark's  A Cowboy's Prayer on that CD was selected for the first edition of The BAR-D Roundup from CowboyPoetry.com. Selected poems from Cowboy Classics have been heard on  Marvin O'Dell's Around the Campfire on Classic Heartland; Andy and Jim Nelson's Clear Out West (C. O. W.), Pinedale, Wyoming; KPOV, Calling All Cowboys, Bend, Oregon; Joe Baker's Backforty Bunkhouse program in Ruidoso, New Mexico; and on other Western radio shows.

 

photo by Lloyd Shelby
Dick and Jane Morton at Kanab, 2002

photo by Teddie Daley
Dick and Jane Morton at Prescott, 2001

Cowboy Classics

Includes:

Trail Dust by S. Omar Barker
Bunkhouse Christmas by S. Omar Barker
Cattleman's Prayer  anonymous
Cowboy's Complaint by S. Omar Barker
Ghost Canyon Trail by Bruce Kiskaddon
Hunted Men by S. Omar Barker
Juanita by E. A. Brininstool
Line Camp Christmas by S. Omar Barker
So Long, Chinook! by Henry Herbert Knibbs
The Broncho Twister's Prayer by Bruce Kiskaddon
The Old Cow Pony by Bruce Kiskaddon
The Shallows of the Ford by Henry Herbert Knibbs
The Walking Man by Henry Herbert Knibbs
Where the Ponies Come to Drink by Henry Herbert Knibbs
A Cowboy's Prayer by Charles Badger Clark

Background music recorded by Mark L. Gardner and Rex Rideout
Produced by Bob Luttrell for B & L Impact Media Productions

 

 
In the April, 2007 edition of Western Horseman, Associate Editor Kyle Partain calls Cowboy Classics a "must have for fans of the cowboy poetry genre."

 

Cowboy Classics is available for $15 postpaid 

Order via e-mail to dickandjane2@earthlink.net or by mail to: 

Dick Morton
7961 E. Natal Ave.
Mesa, AZ 85209
(October through April)

or

12710 Abert Way
Colorado Springs, CO 80908 
(April-October)

Dick says, "Include your name, mailing address, phone number, check or money order. Orders will be filled 'post haste.'"

 

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