Pensive 'N' Playful Cowboy Poetry

Mark presents cowboy poetry, a traditional, narrative form of verse originating from American cowboy life, telling stories of the Western lifestyle and cowboy culture. Topics include but are hardly limited to: land; cattle; horses; humor; hardship; and values—using rhyme and metered patterns (like ballads) often shared around campfires or gatherings, keeping the authentic cowboy spirit alive through storytelling.

Mark is the International Western Music Association 2024 COWBOY POET OF THE YEAR and prior five time nominee for the same; the 2025 IWMA Cowboy Poetry Book of the Year Author; a 2025 top three 2025 nominee for the Academy of Western Artists Cowboy Poet of the Year; the 2018 NATIONAL COWBOY POETRY RODEO Champion for Serious Poetry and the 2017 NCPR Rising Star Champion for Humorous Poetry and 2017 inductee to the Adirondack Cowboy Hall of Fame. Of Arizona ranching roots, he has been branded 'the Cowboy Poet of the Northeast' as his present home is in upstate New York's Adirondack Mountains region. The ranch-man, descendant of horse-folk and cow-losopher reveals "that in my heart, I knew I was meant to ‘cowboy’. While life situations didn’t always allow fate, along the bumpy trail, I did a fair piece of day workin’. I made a hand biddin’ my skills with horses, cows, cowfolks, and too many fences.” Mark truly enjoys passing on the ethos of cowboy culture through his presentations.

Supported by The Friends of the Colonie Library