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Some tips
Poems that don't get accepted might have a better chance if these things were considered and revisions were made:
We're looking for quality. We accept cowboy poetry in the traditional form, with strong rhyme and meter, and we're open to other forms.
Our focus is on poems that reflect cowboy and ranching life -- the real, working West, not the "reel" stories from movies and such.
We are not interested in "outhouse" poems or poems that include drunken driving or racial prejudice.
We're interested only in poems that are acceptable to readers of all ages.
If you "just wrote it yesterday," hold on to it and keep working. The best poems, however divine the inspiration might have been that helped write them, need to be edited, edited, and edited. And then edited more. Do that and then try it out on us.
If your poem is in the traditional form and the meter flows like a three-legged horse, keep working.
If you have near-rhymes like son/soon and curlew/halo and link/stinks that look like lazy efforts, we'll suggest you work a bit harder.
If you have awkward forced rhymes, such as "on my horse I did ride" where you've inverted a phrase to make a rhyme...please keep working to rid your poem of those.
If your poem is an old (or new) joke that you made into a poem...chances are it won't really be something authentically representative of cowboy and Western life and won't be original-- two things we (and our readers) hope for.
If your poem is a made-up Old West tale, inspired by Hollywood or the like, this is probably not the place for it.
If your poem hardly touches anything Western and is a sermon, or a call to arms, or such, it might be a good poem, but again, it's not what we're aiming for here at the BAR-D.
Get to know the work of the classic Cowboy Poets and read all the good poetry you can. There are usually good reasons why poems become the favorites of many readers. Read our Honored Guests' poetry. See our Lariat Laureate winners for what we thought were some of the best poems that came in through our competition. See our articles about writing and reciting Cowboy Poetry.
What if your poem is not accepted?
We hope you'll work on it and re-submit it, or submit another.
Judging is of course subjective, but we try to let poets know why a poem is not accepted.
We do out best to keep the bar high, in an effort to make our collection representative of the best in Cowboy Poetry.
We recommend these articles:
You Call THAT a Poem?
Poet and writer Rod Miller challenges writersAre You All Talk and No Trochaic Tetrameter?
Poet and writer Rod Miller discusses meterWriting Cowboy Poetry
Sam Jackson, known for his excellent poetry and for conceiving and producing the world's only Cowboy Poetry Rodeo, shares his experience and adviceNo Excuse for Lazy Poets
COWBOY MAGAZINE editor and publisher Darrell Arnold tells it as he sees itDoes Slant Rhyme with Cant?
Poet and writer Rod Miller discusses slant rhyme and the classic poets who use itSuggestions for Wordsmithing Better Poetry
Award-winning poet and writer Jane Morton addresses the craft of writing, with a focus on rhyme and editingFine Lines and Wrinkles
Poet and writer Rod Miller examines inspired, memorable poetry with examples from current and classic poetrySpurrin' the Words
Recommended for all poets, excellent Cowboy Poetry guides by Montana 4-HLearning About Rhythm
A lesson from Spurrin' the Words, the Montana 4-H Cowboy Poetry guidesWriting Cowboy Poetry
Sam Jackson, known for his excellent poetry and for conceiving and producing the world's only Cowboy Poetry Rodeo, shares his experience and adviceThe Dialogue
Responses to articles about writing cowboy poetry...Copyright and Permissions
Know your rights and respect those of others. It's undeniably the Cowboy Way.
Words and resources for poets, reciters, publishers, and others.A Matter of Ethics
Reciters should credit poets' work; Dee Strickland Johnson ("Buckshot Dot")
helps make that clear in her essayand others, listed here
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