A Visit with John Nesbitt

John Nesbitt not only writes western novels , he composes cowboy poetry. His poems often place him outside the traditional cowboy poetry form because some of them don’t rhyme and he doesn’t  have them memorized. He enjoys the work of Mark Todd and Laurie Wagner Buyer as well as gatherings that are “less dogmatic about poetry.” He especially likes to take part in events that feature western songs and songwriters such as Mike Blakely, John Chandler, W. C. Jameson, and Wyoming’s Kevin McNiven.

John’s first cowboy poem, “You are the Pearl of My Mountain Oyster,” had been “kicking around” in his head “and needed to get out.” Published in one of his short stories in West Wind Review, it received the best short story award and was reprinted in his collection, Antelope Sky.

An instructor of English and Spanish at Eastern Wyoming College in Torrington, he has participated in the Cheyenne Cowboy Symposium as well group and solo readings. “Because I have a full-time teaching job, I write whenever I can find time in the evening, weekends, and during breaks.

The poet has been published in several genres. His literary articles and book reviews have appeared in Western American Literature, South Dakota Review, Journal of the West, and other journals. His fiction, nonfiction and poetry have been published in numerous literary magazines, including Wyoming: The Hub  of the Wheel, The Dakotah, Owen Wister Review, and West Wind Review. They have also appeared in Roundup Magazine, and other publications.

The author has more than a dozen traditional western novels to his credit, including his latest, Gather Your Horses, published last June, as well as several contemporaries. His writings also include his doctoral dissertation, a textbook for basic writers courses, manuals for composition and literature courses as well as a booklet about Robert Roripaugh, a former Wyoming poet laureate. He’s most proud of his long narrative poem, “When My Pony Sheds again,” a fun poem to read aloud.  Although the work is over 200 lines, it appeared in Adventures of The Ramrod Rider, a medley of fiction, poetry satire and parody.

“Readers love the cowboy poetry genre because it is simple and direct. It often speaks to the reader’s experience and reaffirms the reader’s values. People like it because  it is not highly intellectual—and is often anti-intellectual—because it’s often sentimental, and because it often contains clean humor. Another way of saying it is that people like cowboy poetry because it’s safe.”

His poem “Nebraska Girl” follows:

I’ve got a girl back in Nebraska
With sparkling eyes and long, dark hair—                                                A voice that rings with golden laughter,                                               And lips that brush away all care.

When I last saw her in Nebraska,                                                    Beneath the spring-time moon so bright,
She whispered words demure and tender,                

‘And held me in her arms so tight.

The golden moon above Nebraska
Lit up the prairie with its glow—

And showed to me scene of wonder,
A dark-hired goddess here below.

I had to leave her in Nebraska,
But I’ll be back when roudup’s done,
And meet her on the golden prairie
Beneath the smiling autumn sun.

And when the winter in Nebraska
Gives way to prairie flowers in bloom,
We’ll walk together slow at sunset,
And watch the rising of the moon.

And when the moon over Nebraska,
Lights up the evening warm and free,                                                  
We’ll pledge our love in moonlit whispers,                                           My sweet Nebraska girl and me.

John is featured in the newly released Wyoming's Cowboy Poets and Their Poetry. (See side panel)