Songs Of The Sage, No. 1

by Curley Fletcher (Composer)

Curley Fletcher's poems have been passed down through generations of cowboys, recited around campfires, learned and relearned. Fletcher wrote for the lovers of the great open spaces—the mountains, valleys, and deserts that form the Empire of the West.

72 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1931

Reviews

[Ralph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Curley Fletcher (his given name was Carmen, which is not a good name for a cowboy)grew up in the west, and worked at all the jobs he writes about in his poetry -- cow punching, desert ratting, miner, muleskinner, ranch hand, bronco buster,roper, dude ranch manager, and chuck wagon cook. In addition, he was a trick shooter, a magazine editor, a musician, a comic book artist and an adviser to hundreds of western films made during the Golden Age of the Saturday matinee...but he did NOT herd sheep. Probably the most famous poem in this thin volume which reproduces the original 1931 book, is "The Strawberry Roan," which was widely performed as a song during the heyday of cowboy swing. All of he poems display a fond reverence for a rough-and-ready lifestyle that has fallen out of vogue, one which emphasized individuality, mutual respect, freedom, self reliance, faith and an appreciation for natural beauty. There is a certain lyricism in Fletcher's poetry that, combined with complex rhythms and internal rhymes, is quite endearing. And there's a very broad streak of humor, as in "The Chuck Wagon Blues" and "The Sheep-Herders Lament." In "The Painted Trail" and "When Desert Flowers Bloom" we see the beauty of a raw and harsh land, softened through the eye of a natural philosopher. In "The Cowboy's Prayer" we see a simple and yet powerful faith in a universe larger than ourselves...

"I was never strong for sky-pilots,
There's no place on them for to lean;
'Cause they ain't much better than I am,
I guess You know what I mean.

I'm usin' a lot of your time, I guess,
'Cause I don't just know how to pray,
But I won't ask any more favors
If You find time to help me today."

This is certainly a great book for poetry lovers and those who appreciate regional dialects, but it should truly sought out by those who believe there is still romance in the western way and think the cowboy life has not truly faded from our collective consciousness, While the 23 poems in this book can easily be read in one short sitting, I encourage you not to make it too short -- fine wine is meant to be savored, especially a rustic vintage such as this.