Doris Daley

Doris has been an emcee and featured poet at every cowboy festival in Canada as well as several in the United States, including Texas, California, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, Montana and Oregon. In 2004 she was named Best Female Cowboy Poet in North America by the Academy of Western Artists, the first time any Canadian, male or female, has won the cowboy poetry category. In 2001 she was among a small group of cowboy entertainers chosen to perform at a command performance for Canada's Governor General, a show she also emceed.

Born and raised in Southern Alberta ranch country, Doris Daley writes cowboy poetry that celebrates the humour, history and way of life of the west. Her great grandfather came west with the North West Mounted Police in the 1870s; her family has been ranching in the Alberta foothills for five generations. She is at home reciting in convention  halls, around campfires and everywhere in between.

Doris comes from a gene pool that includes ranchers, cowboys, Mounties, good cooks, sorry team ropers, Irish stowaways, bushwhackers, liars, two-steppers and saskatoon pickers. She has a brand new book, Rhyme and Reason, as well as a new CD, Poetry in Motion. Doris has presented her school workshop, West Word Ho! to grade 3-12 students in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario. In January, 2004 she served as poet-in-residence in Santa Clarita, California.

Selected Awards
Will Rogers Award, Best Female Cowboy Poet, presented by the Academy of Western Artists, 2004

Selected Publications
Rhyme and Reason (FiddleDD, 2003) ISBN 0-9684530-1-5
Poetry in Motion (FiddleDD, 2003) ISBN 0-9684530-2-3

Selected Anthologies
Cowgirls: 100 Years of Writing The Range (College Press, 1997) ISBN 0-88995-168-3
Cowgirl Poetry (Gibbs Smith, 2001) ISBN 1-58685-016-4
Cowboy Poetry: The Reunion (Gibbs Smith, 2004) ISBN 1-58685-349-X

Books in Print
Daley, Doris
Rhyme and Reason, Cowboy Poetry (FiddleDD, 2003) ISBN 0-9684530-1-5, $18.00
Poetry in Motion, Cowboy Poetry CD (FiddleDD, 2003) ISBN 0-9684530-2-3, $18,00

Doris Daley, Box 4427, Stn. C, Calgary, AB  T2T 5N2
ddaley@telusplanet.net
www.cowboypoetry.com

Poet in the School
(Calgary, Alberta)

ddaley@telusplanet.net
Phone: (403) 217-4340

Doris has been an emcee and featured performer and emcee at every cowboy festival in Canada and several in the United States. "Doris is the pre-eminent female poet in this genre and the equal of any male writing today," says Jack Hannah of the Sons of the San Joaquin. "Her verbal paintbrush is as captivating and as visual as the paintings of Russell and Remington."

Doris began writing simple rhymes in her little country school in third grade. She loves to share her joy of wordsmithing with school children. "Words are cheap," (she is a lifelong tightwad) she tells students. "In fact they're free. Let's have fun spinning rhymes and building great word pictures."

Grade Levels: 5-12 (Small groups, not more than 40, work best. Technology: a blackboard and a piece of chalk)

Fees: standard

Classroom Approach:
Doris gears her presentation appropriately according to the class's age group, their language skills, and the curriculum. Her presentation is interspersed with lots of examples of cowboy poetry. There is rarely time to cover all of her topics, but she can hit a lot of them.

Topics include: What is Cowboy Poetry and what are its origins? The genesis and evolution of this oral tradition - Texas cattle drives, land grants, the Queen's Cowboys, today's working cowboy. Influences from other cultures. The spoken vs. the written word. Cowboy poetry's relationship (first cousin) to sea shanties, Irish drinking songs, rap music, Maritime kitchen parties and rural folklore.

Wordsmithing: Like mainstream poetry and other literature, good cowboy poetry depends on several key elements. Fun with words, building a poem, to rhyme or  not to rhyme, likes and dislikes, figures of speech, creativity, choosing the right word. Interactive time with students, we write a poem together or the students write their own (depending on time.) The importance of re-writes: "A good poem is never finished, only abandoned." (Paul Valery)

Finding topics, getting inspired: humour, mood, feelings, family anecdotes, storytelling, emotions. Expressing your emotions, politics, opinions. The music of words. Is poetry relevant in today's world? Poetry is an art form that needs no electronic accessories. You don't have to plug in.

And a few extras: Urban myths about cows. Hollywood vs. real life. Where to find it on the Internet.