About
Kent Rollins
Poems
Photography
Cookbook and Recordings
Contact Information
Photo by Kathy Johnson
About Kent Rollins:
Kent Rollins was raised in southwest Oklahoma near the banks of the Red River. He grew up around the cattle business and has never been able to get away from it -- not that he'd want to. He learned to cook from his mother at an early age and has turned that into a first class business.
Kent, his wife Donna and son Jeffery, are the owners and operators of the Red River Chuckwagon and they operate a cow/calf operation along the Red River south of Hollis, Oklahoma.
Kent and his 1876 Studebaker Chuckwagon were voted Chuckwagon of the Year in 1996 and 1997 by the Academy of Western Artists. Also a poet and storyteller, Kent received the Skinny Rowland Humor Award for Best Humorist and Storyteller in 2002.
Kent has entertained and cooked from Hollywood to Branson and many points in between. He has been featured on the Food Network, the Family Channel and QVC.
For more than a decade, Kent has described life on the range through poetry and storytelling. This working cowboy first began preserving the rich history of the old west with his business Red River Ranch Chuckwagon, by catering traditional western meals at company picnics, weddings and other gatherings.
"Cowboy poetry was a way for me to tie cooking and entertaining together. I share the old stories and let people know what went on in the 1880s so they can see life wasn't really like what they've seen on the silver screen."Kent's poetry, cooking, and cowboying were featured in a PBS Gallery documentary, It Ain't Shakespeare. You can view the video trailer at Kent's site here or order the video directly from OETA (800-879-6382; The Gallery Series, show 201).
In September 2004, Kent Rollins' Chuckwagon Bootcamp was featured on the Food Network's Roker on the Road. He's pictured here with General Tommy Franks:
Kent Rollins has shared some of his photographs from his camps, below.
Visit Kent Rollins' web site for much more:
Frugal Cowboy Meal
This ain't no Hardee's
Nor is it a Mickee-dee's
There ain't no drive-up window
And a menu you won't seeThis is just an old chuckwagon
That's been through hell and back
You won't see no Happy Meals
'Cause my food won't fit in a sackWe don't give no little toys
With the meal you receive
But will pass out the Rolaids
They're about the only thing that's freeWe ain't got no purdy waitress
To bring out yer gourmet meal
Just an old wore out camp cook
Who's plum nasty, mean and ill'Cause he's been up early fixin
Your meal didn't come pre-cooked
And there ain't no tellin what fell in
When you weren't there to lookBut his coffee is always hot and black
You won't find no preservatives here
And the meat is 100% pure
Mostly coyote, beef and deerNow don't go getting squeamish
Cuz we ain't killed nobody yet
And you'll get a free coupon
For a visit to the vetSo get up here in line, folks
For a frugal cowboy meal
Before ole cookie starts tenderizin'
With them big ole wagon wheels© Kent Rollins
This poem may not be reprinted or reposted without the author's written permission.
The Vision
Photograph by Kent Rollins
It stands there below the hill
A vision from the past
Once a sturdy structure
But now it's fading fastBuilt of rock and mud
It once stood proud and tall
But now the chink is crumbling
And the walls have begun to fallThese rocks came from the Wichita's
They hauled 'em by the wagon loads
But now there's not even a trace
Of wagon or a road
Built by a Texas cattleman
A headquarters for his spread
As miles and miles of grass he had
From the Saltfork to the Red
Many a head of beef
This man turned out to graze
As he fought life's many battles
And his family he tried to raiseI bet this ole rock house
Was a mighty welcome sight
When he had been gone a horseback
Trying to get home before nightAs he rode up to the house
I can almost hear his wife say
"Johnnie, your Pa is home
Go unsaddle his horse
And throw him a bite a' hay"She met him at the door
With a smile and a kiss upon his cheek
For she had truly missed him
He's been gone at least six weeks"How did it go," she said
With a weak and trembling voice
"Well it could have been better
But I really didn't have much choice
"I lost a bunch there at the river
It was running fast and deep
I should have picked another spot
Where the banks weren't so slick or steep"By the time I got the rest to market
The price had went way down
And when I started paying bills
Well, there wasn't enough to go around.""How will we make it," she said
"We never will be get by
If it's not drought or disease or prices,
I'm tired of it all let's quit and go home
I don't want to even try."
About that time I heard somebody holler
"Youngin' are you going or not?
Off daydreaming again, get back on
We still got to get these cows to the lot"I reached for the saddle horn
As that ole sun was fading fast
I turned once more to look
Was it really there or was it gone
Or was it a vision from the past© Kent Rollins
This poem may not be reprinted or reposted without the author's written permission.
Horseshoes and Heaven
He was covered all with sweat
As I tied my ole horse there in the shade
He said an ole horse that will stand still
For more than five minutes
Why I don't think there's ever been one madeHe wore an old ragged pair of leggins
That had been cut off just below the knee
His old hands were hard and callused
And his arms were like two big limbs
Hanging off a giant oak treeHe said you reckon you could hold this old feller
He seems to have a lot a trouble standin' still
Why I don't know why I ain't quit this
You'd think after 45 years
I had enough to get my fillHe let that ole horse's leg down
And went to his anvil to shape a shoe
Awe I guess being a cowboy and doing this
Is about all I ever really knewHe said trimming & shoeing these old horses
Is sorta like dealing with life
Nobody said it was gonna be easy
But if you'll do it with pride and honesty
You can get through the times of trouble and strifeWith that shoe in hand and a mouth full of nails
He went back to resume his chore
Pick it up old feller he mumbled
We just like this one and one moreWell he nailed that shoe on pretty quick
He never missed his aim
He said sometimes in life
You've really got to struggle
If there's gonna be any kind of gainHe said take that ole anvil there
That I use to shape a shoe
Sometimes we've gotta have a little adjusting
To keep us all straight and trueNow take these old horses some are pretty good
And some act awful ill
But it's just like everyday livin,
Cause sometimes you just don't get a fair dealWell I watched him untie this old horse
His back still slightly bent
And in my mind I wondered about the many hours
Under an ole horse's belly that he had really spentHis shirt by now was salted down
Soaked by the summer's sun
It didn't take him long a trimmin'
And my ole horse was doneWell I thanked him for his story
And paid him for his time
And as I was riding away
I could hear his ole anvil a ringing
Making a perfect chimeThere ain't a day that goes by
That I don't think of him and his advice
I'd stopped by an seen him every week
Usually once or twiceBut now his old anvil is silent
The horses ain't lined up no more
His old chaps hang there empty
And his hammer lays still there on the floorSometimes I go to wondering
And it makes me feel sorta sad
Now I know the good Lord needs a farrier
And this makes me sorta proud
Because I know he got a good one
When he came and hired my Dad© Kent Rollins
This poem may not be reprinted or reposted without the author's written permission.
"Wash" Rollins at age 17
Cookbook and Recordings
Kent Rollins Live in Branson
Nine stories and three poems, including:
The Olympics
Cast Iron Luggage
The Exterminator
Olee & Jacob
Dumb Questions
The Cowboy Midwife
Horseshoes and Heaven
12 Days Down the Trail
Poison Mushrooms
The Pain
Grandkids
Ben HurAvailable for $17 postpaid from:
Kent Rollins
Rt. 1 Box 318
Hollis, OK 73550
www.KentRollins.com
Chuckwagon Cooking from the Red River Ranch
Includes nearly 50 recipes and information about chuckwagon cooking and the following stories and poems:
A Calm Day
Both Sides
Frugal Cowboy Meal
Horseshoes and Heaven
Not in My Cast Iron
Spring Works
Uninvited GuestSee the CowboyPoetry.com review below
$19.95 postpaid
Kent Rollins
Rt. 1, Box 318
Hollis, OK 73550
www.KentRollins.comAnd it is:
Kent Rollins Stories and Poems
See the CowboyPoetry.com review below
Includes:
The Pain
The River
Exterminator
The Vision
Cowboy and the Skateboard
Cowboy Midwife
Frugal Cowboy Meal
Springtime on the River
Poison Mushrooms
Chicken House Massacre
My Last Trip
Ben Hur
12 Days Down the Trail
Kinfolks
The Roundpen
Horseshoes and Heaven
tape is $10.00 postpaid
Kent Rollins
Rt. 1, Box 318
Hollis, OK 73550
www.KentRollins.comAnd it is:
If you find yourself headed for that proverbial desert island and can take only one thing, quick, grab Kent Rollins. He can entertain you with his stories and poetry, and he can cook! His new book, Chuckwagon Cooking from The Red River Ranch is a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach, and his "Stories and Poems" tape is the perfect accompaniment.
Kent Rollins runs a cattle operation and catering business, has been named AWA Storyteller/Humorist of the year, AWA Chuckwagon Cook of the Year, and is the Official Oklahoma State Chuckwagon Cook. If you haven't had the luck to meet him in person at his 1876 Studebaker Chuckwagon, you may have seen him on the Food Network, QVC, or the Family Channel.
The book's recipes cover breakfast to dessert, with some great standouts including Sourdough Cornbread, Hash Brown Potato Casserole, and Aunt Ola's Chocolate Cake, which the author first made when he was 9 years old. The book has a selection of Rollin's photographs that capture the beauty and mood of the places he roams and of his cooking gear. The well made book includes poetry, tales, musings on meals, and useful primers on cast iron and coffee, "the most important part of any ranch meal."There's an enthusiastic foreword from QVC videographer Paul B. Kelley who spent time on the trail with Rollins ("Have you ever had a meal that everyone agreed was at the top of their all-time list...a meal that is consistently held up as the holy grail of mealdom? That was what we experienced that night under the Oklahoma stars..."); words from his friend, cowboy and poet Leon Autrey; and from the book's editor who spent time in Rollins' "Cook Camp" ("It was the most peaceful, and good-for-soul camping I'd ever done.").
Kent Rollins mixes words as well as ingredients, and his tape, Stories and Poems, would be a treat to listen to as you cook up his recipes for Chocolate Syrup and Sourdough Biscuits ("Most cowboys tell me 'we ain't never had that.' But after the first couple bites they figure out why I just make it on the last morning.") Even if you're not cooking, you'll want to sit back and enjoy the tape's 16 original poems and stories and the occasional music of Snuffy Elmore and Steve Schick, which adds just the right amount of seasoning.
Rollins has a lot of hilarious tales, some with city dwellers and his wife's kinfolk as the focal points; some about cooking; some cowboying adventures such as "Cowboy Midwife"; and some about childhood antics such as "Ben Hur," which gets as vivid as the movie that inspired it.
In "Cowboy Midwife," a cowboy who has been assured he needs no horse or rope for a "gentle" heifer about the calve, becomes attached by OB chain to the calf and heifer and is whipped across pens and under fence posts, joined by an eager cow dog who "has never got to chase cattle with cowboys tied to 'em." As they all head through an open gate into 160 acres of grub mesquite, the cowboy remembers a trick his Daddy taught him "that works on anything of the female species as long as you're wearing headgear... just turn that hat sidewise to where the brim is over lookin' where your ears were...they think you are lookin' in a different direction than what you are and they'll circle and go way wide..." There is no happy ending to that story.
In what could be a recollection from his own childhood, the kids in "Ben Hur," who get dropped off in town on Saturdays for a movie and have already "seen so many shoot-em-up Westerns that we'd killed nearly all the neighbors' chickens as well as mama's too," so they look for something new to inspire their later adventures at home. Impressed by Ben Hur's chariot and gear (except the "'little skirt'" deal") and the fact that even though "people was always chunkin' rocks and spears and everythin' at him" he was always the hero, the kids go home to make elaborate re-enactments of Ben Hur's exploits. They replace a wagon's front wheels with tricycle wheels; gather up ammunition to throw, which consists of "sail rabbits" and "sail possums" (road kill that has baked in the Oklahoma sun; the possum were better because they have "a hook tail and you can get more leverage when you throw 'em"); make that "little skirt" of baler twine and feed bags; and use a half watermelon that "the chickens had holed out a week ago" for a helmet, secured by a chin strap made from something found in mama's dresser drawer, with "padded ear protectors on both sides and sorta buckled there under your chin..." The results would impress Cecil B. DeMille.
Rollins has a serious side, too, and shows it in the poems about his beloved Red River, "The River," and "Springtime on the River" and in his respect for the past in "The Vision" and "12 Days Down the Trail." There may be no finer tribute to a father's wisdom than "Horseshoes and Heaven," which is also in the cookbook, accompanied by a great vintage photo.It's hard to improve on Paul B. Kelley's description of Kent Rollins: "The man himself is a little magical, and he puts genuine cowboy love in everything he cooks, everything he does." You'll be left with no doubt about any of that after enjoying his book and tape. Chuckwagon Cooking from The Red River Ranch is $19.95 postpaid and Stories and Poems is $10 postpaid, available from Kent Rollins, Rt. 1, Box 318, Hollis, OK 73550 www.KentRollins.com
Review by Margo Metegrano
Managing Editor, CowboyPoetry.com
June, 2003
Photographs
Kent Rollins is often the only human observing the magic of the early morning from his camp, and he is a skilled photographer who records cowboys' work. Below are samples from Palo Duro Canyon, May 2003.
"Our first camp was at Tom Blassingame's ole' camp...brought a special feeling to me..."
"'Moonlight Teepee,'... a picture I took one morning about 3:55 that was my getting up time for getting breakfast ready."
"Spring works at Tom's camp"
"The Sheraton Suites at the Mallard Trap"
"Jingling in the horses"
"Catching the morning mounts"
"December Morning"
Kent Rollin's 2004 photo, "Ridin' Out" was the 2005 Cowboy Poetry Week poster and the subject for an Art Spur project.
Contact Information
Kent Rollins
Rt. 1, Box 318
Hollis, OK 73550
For booking information, contact Kent at 580-688-3693
The BAR-D Roundup | Cowboy Poetry Week
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