Campfire Stories

Work on the range was long hours and short entertainment, and for a lot of cowboys the fire at the end of the day was where the talking happened. Cowboy poetry grew out of that tradition of telling stories, and some of the stories were put in rhyme.

The tradition is still alive. Cowboy poetry is recited at campfires, gatherings and competitions across the West, and in Elko, Nevada, the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering has been held since 1985, organized by the Western Folklife Center. It gives working ranchers and cowboys a place to share poems about their lives with cattle and horses.

Far from town lights, a night like the one shown here is ordinary, and the Milky Way is the ceiling.

Three men sit around a fire with their hats on, shown as silhouettes against the light, and a horse stands at the right edge. Sparks rise from the flames into a sky packed with stars, the Milky Way running up from the horizon like smoke. Dark hills fill the horizon, and everything above the fire is deep blue.