15 Dec Talking Gourds: “Stories & Poems” Features Cowboy Poet in Norwood, 12/18!
A hit from the first year of “Stories & Poems Norwood” outfitter, backcountry guide and cowboy poet John Nelson of Gunnison is featured on Wednesday December 18th at 6 pm at the Lone Cone Library.
For more information, text 970-729-0220 or email Goodtimes at art@tellurideinstitute.org. To visit the website: www.tellurideinstitute.org/talking-gourds
A collaboration of the Lone Cone Library and the Telluride Institute’s Talking Gourds poetry program, “Stories & Poems Norwood” is free and open to all ages, thanks to the generosity of the library, a Town of Telluride CCAASE grant, private donors and Talking Gourds’ Fischer & Cantor poetry contests.
Go here for more on Talking Gourds.
John Garrison, courtesy Talking Gourds.
“In 1998 John and I appeared together in groundbreaking Western Colorado anthology, ‘The Geography of Hope’ (Conundrum Press, Crested Butte) edited by David J. Rothman,” said Art Goodtimes, director of the Telluride Institute’s Talking Gourds Poetry Program. “I was impressed with his poetry back then and have been ever since.“
Retired after 40 years of leading horseback pack trips and trail rides into spectacular Rocky Mountain wilderness country as the owner and operator of The Gunnison Country Guide Service, John Nelson remains a sought-after cowboy performance poet.
In his early years as an outfitter, John began reciting cowboy poetry from his favorite authors to entertain guests and wranglers around the evening campfires. When one guest inquired, “Hey John! You’re pretty good at reciting other people’s poetry, but have you ever written any of your own?” That query spurred him into action. Since then John has authored a pack load of personal writings.
John has performed and entertained at numerous gatherings, banquets, guest ranches, hunting camps and clubs, outdoor sports shows, school classrooms, celebrations of all kinds, as well as on TV and radio. His work has been published in a couple of anthologies, and in many outdoor sports magazines, and newspapers.
As Jack Brown of Western Outdoors Magazine commented, “His poems are born in the peaks and canyons of the Rocky Mountains…”
The “Stories & Poems” free series happens the third Wednesday of each month. Featured guests give a 15-20-minute presentation each, followed by a short question and answer period after the presentation. That is followed by a passing of the gourd to encourage community members to share stories or poems.
For those who like prompts for stories or poems, this month’s prompt is: “Living in the Rocky Mountains.”
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