Twenty years ago and then some, CowboyPoetry.com showed up online.
Established under a veil of mystery, the site started out sort of campy. But
the brains behind it soon learned that cowboy poetry, even the funny kind, is a
serious art.
The brains behind it turned out to belong to the remarkable Margo
Metegrano, who rode herd on the site, driving it to grow and develop into an
institution. It became the world’s largest archive of cowboy poetry, both
contemporary and classic. It promoted and reported on cowboy poetry events
across the country. It featured relevant essays and commentary. And it spun off
a blog and a Facebook page.
It established Cowboy Poetry Week, and saw it ratified in the US
Congress and by the governors of several states. It formed the Center for
Western and Cowboy Poetry, which, among other things, produced a series of
annual CDs featuring thematic collections of poems recited by folks from across
the country, and distributed them to libraries everywhere.
It was all a labor of love for Margo, who worked tirelessly to
promote an art she had grown to love, becoming, perhaps, the most important and
influential person in the cowboy poetry community—all the while content to stay
in the shadows, all but invisible, save to the poets who came to know, love,
appreciate, and respect her.
Tireless finally turned to just plain tired, and Margo recently
decided to hang it up. No one can, should, or does blame her. She deserves the
rest. She earned it.
But that doesn’t mean the cowboy poetry community isn’t mourning
the passing. And its unlikely we will soon recover, for there will never, ever
again, be anything quite like CowboyPoetry.com.
