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Sun and Saddle Leather, Including Grass Grown Trails and New Poems
1915. A collection of Cowboy Poetry. From the Preface: Cowboys are the sternest critics of those who would represent the West. No hypocrisy, no bluff, no pose can evade them. Yet cowboys have made Badger Clark's songs their own. So readily have they circulated that often the man who sings the song could not tell you where it started. Many of the poems have become folk songs of the West, we may say of America, for they speak of freedom and the open.
201 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1915
28 people are currently reading
56 people want to read
About the author
Charles Badger Clark
14 books4 followersCharles Badger Clark (January 1, 1883 – September 26, 1957) was an American poet.
Charles Badger Clark was born on January 1, 1883 in Albia, Iowa. His family moved to Dakota Territory, where his father served as a Methodist preacher in Huron, Mitchell, Deadwood and Hot Springs. He dropped out of Dakota Wesleyan University after he clashed with one of its founders, C.B. Clark. He travelled to Cuba, returned to Deadwood, South Dakota, where he contracted tuberculosis, then moved to Tombstone, Arizona to assuage his illness with the dry weather. He returned again to South Dakota in 1910 to take care of his ailing father. There, he contracted tuberculosis.
Clark published his first poetry collection in 1917. In 1925, he moved to a cabin in Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota, where he lived for thirty years and continued to write poetry. Clark was named the Poet Laureate of South Dakota by Governor Leslie Jensen in 1937. His work was published in Sunset Magazine, The Pacific Monthly, Arizona Highways, Colliers, Century Magazine, the Rotarian, and Scribner's.
Clark died on September 26, 1957.
Charles Badger Clark was born on January 1, 1883 in Albia, Iowa. His family moved to Dakota Territory, where his father served as a Methodist preacher in Huron, Mitchell, Deadwood and Hot Springs. He dropped out of Dakota Wesleyan University after he clashed with one of its founders, C.B. Clark. He travelled to Cuba, returned to Deadwood, South Dakota, where he contracted tuberculosis, then moved to Tombstone, Arizona to assuage his illness with the dry weather. He returned again to South Dakota in 1910 to take care of his ailing father. There, he contracted tuberculosis.
Clark published his first poetry collection in 1917. In 1925, he moved to a cabin in Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota, where he lived for thirty years and continued to write poetry. Clark was named the Poet Laureate of South Dakota by Governor Leslie Jensen in 1937. His work was published in Sunset Magazine, The Pacific Monthly, Arizona Highways, Colliers, Century Magazine, the Rotarian, and Scribner's.
Clark died on September 26, 1957.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 14, 2015
This collection, written by a working cowboy in the early 1900's, ranged in emotion from rejoicing in the free life and the beauty of the desert to lamenting its eventual loss as fences began to appear and old partners settled down to marry.
A Border Affair, a poem about a lost love, was recorded by Emmylou Harris in the 80's for her album Cimarron, and the introduction said that many of Clark's poems became songs for the singing cowboys of his era. I have listened to my share of cowboy songs but truthfully did not recognize any of the poems from this book. Which gives me a wonderful excuse to explore more volumes of Clark's stunning poetry.
Other favorites here were A Bad Half Hour, Bacon, God's Reserves, and The Wind Is Blowin'. Badger Clark felt deeply, and was able to express what he felt beautifully. If you think cowboy poetry is all about whooping and hollering and crazy nights in town, you will find that here too...but you will also discover that some cowboy poets went beyond that to touch the stars.
A Border Affair, a poem about a lost love, was recorded by Emmylou Harris in the 80's for her album Cimarron, and the introduction said that many of Clark's poems became songs for the singing cowboys of his era. I have listened to my share of cowboy songs but truthfully did not recognize any of the poems from this book. Which gives me a wonderful excuse to explore more volumes of Clark's stunning poetry.
Other favorites here were A Bad Half Hour, Bacon, God's Reserves, and The Wind Is Blowin'. Badger Clark felt deeply, and was able to express what he felt beautifully. If you think cowboy poetry is all about whooping and hollering and crazy nights in town, you will find that here too...but you will also discover that some cowboy poets went beyond that to touch the stars.
August 7, 2020
I had been recommended this book soooo long ago by a fellow booktuber and although I delayed, the wait was worth it. I picked up Sun and Saddle Leather at a moment when I was looking for a different type of poetry and if you're doing the same, then consider this collection of cowboy poetry.
With vistas of the plains and the ranges, Clark had a talent to capture those wide open spaces but more than that, the soul of someone who calls the range their home. It's beautiful, honest, touching, and often very poignant, which are not things you'd associate with cowboys. But as the introduction to the collection shares, cowboys who read this are left a bit speechless and smiling saying "he gets it."
If you want something different to explore the beautiful variety poetry has to offer, I highly recommend this very special and unique collection.
With vistas of the plains and the ranges, Clark had a talent to capture those wide open spaces but more than that, the soul of someone who calls the range their home. It's beautiful, honest, touching, and often very poignant, which are not things you'd associate with cowboys. But as the introduction to the collection shares, cowboys who read this are left a bit speechless and smiling saying "he gets it."
If you want something different to explore the beautiful variety poetry has to offer, I highly recommend this very special and unique collection.
January 25, 2015
At the risk of being inappropriate, I consider Rudyard Kipling, Robert W. Service, and the Aussies' "Banjo" Patterson and Henry Lawson to be "manly" poets. Just something about their topics and rhythms....
Add to the list the cowboy poet (there're probably a lot of those) Badger W. Clark. This book is a compendium of two, plus some poems he probably wrote just after the carnage of WWI. Badger writes of The West, Westerners' love of it, and he has a flair for the language, jargon, and, well, just the feel of it all. Many of his poems read as if they were songs, that is, there is an italicized chorus between verses (for some reason I felt those annoying). When he lived, the two most popular seemed to have been "The Glory Trail" and "The Cowboy's Prayer." Old Sixties-era folkies may recognize "A Border Affair,' which was set to music (or paired with an old Irish melody, "Níl Sé Ina Lá") by Billy Simon and revived by Richard Dyer-Bennett, Bob Dylan, and others as the poignant "Spanish Is a Loving Tongue." Good stuff, once.
Add to the list the cowboy poet (there're probably a lot of those) Badger W. Clark. This book is a compendium of two, plus some poems he probably wrote just after the carnage of WWI. Badger writes of The West, Westerners' love of it, and he has a flair for the language, jargon, and, well, just the feel of it all. Many of his poems read as if they were songs, that is, there is an italicized chorus between verses (for some reason I felt those annoying). When he lived, the two most popular seemed to have been "The Glory Trail" and "The Cowboy's Prayer." Old Sixties-era folkies may recognize "A Border Affair,' which was set to music (or paired with an old Irish melody, "Níl Sé Ina Lá") by Billy Simon and revived by Richard Dyer-Bennett, Bob Dylan, and others as the poignant "Spanish Is a Loving Tongue." Good stuff, once.
April 11, 2020
I wanted to enjoy this more than I did, having been given this by my grandmother, an old western Nebraskan who knew Old Jules and had a life long vendetta against Mari Sandoz because of it.
Between the corn-pone (referring to a horse as a hawse), the manifest destiny mindset, the casual and banal racism (an Indian medicine man is killed by lightning, for laughs), rural humble-brags, and the frequently puzzling rhyme schemes, I did not enjoy these poems much at all. All of these are products of the time of his writing, as are my reactions to the time I have read it.
I did like Grass Grown Trails and New Poems better, which centered more on the beauty of nature and the tragedy of war, but those make up around a sixth of the total work. I would give 2.5 stars based on the strength of the ending, if possible.
Between the corn-pone (referring to a horse as a hawse), the manifest destiny mindset, the casual and banal racism (an Indian medicine man is killed by lightning, for laughs), rural humble-brags, and the frequently puzzling rhyme schemes, I did not enjoy these poems much at all. All of these are products of the time of his writing, as are my reactions to the time I have read it.
I did like Grass Grown Trails and New Poems better, which centered more on the beauty of nature and the tragedy of war, but those make up around a sixth of the total work. I would give 2.5 stars based on the strength of the ending, if possible.
June 4, 2024
Not the best example of poetry, but it's full of heart. Perhaps you cannot learn about metrics or the proper use of terms BUT you can be fascinating by the feelings that Clark puts in his works. In the second section the style has an upgrade but just a few pages convey the same power of the previous ones.
Most importantly, you feel what the author feels, you touch the same land, you hear the same sounds, your hearts beat the same.
Most importantly, you feel what the author feels, you touch the same land, you hear the same sounds, your hearts beat the same.
September 22, 2021
I can’t believe how long it’s taken me to discover the poet laureate of South Dakota. I love him.
May 17, 2023
This was some good old west poetry about the young land of america. It truly makes me wish I had a time machine.
January 15, 2025
Cowboy poetry at its best
A good book of cowboy poetry at its best Glad read it of times that have gone by very good
A good book of cowboy poetry at its best Glad read it of times that have gone by very good
November 17, 2012
Wonderful poetry written in an interesting style.
November 6, 2014
This is an audiobook on LibriVox.
https://librivox.org/sun-and-saddle-l...
https://librivox.org/sun-and-saddle-l...
January 10, 2014
Worst book ever!!:(
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews