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Show SOUTHERN UTAH NEWS Community WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2001 16 rfonnm wbw H Libra By Marilyn Thies Did you ever want to be a cowboy? Ride the range without a care? Come listen to some cowboy po- etry And you wont have to leave your chair! -- Doug Keller c. 2001 Cowboy Heritage will be the theme of the Friends of the Library Fine Arts Evening at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 17 'At the Kanab City Library. Cowboy poets Doug Keller and Sandy Knolls will be joined by e musicians Lloyd and LaVona Baker for an evening of entertainment designed to raise funds for the library. old-tim- Doug Keller, a long-tim- e Kanab area resident, has been writing cowboy poetry since his college days. Most recently he participated in cowboy poetry sessions at the Old Barn Playhouse during Kanabs Western Legends festivals. He has also presented his poetry at Deer Springs Ranch, Parowans draft horse show, and helps entertain tour groups at the Old Bam Playhouse. According to Keller, cowboy songs and ballads were the earliest forms of cowboy poetry and its popularity is in- creasing. They have it all over the West. In fact, a lot of people back East are doing it now, he commented. Cowboys have been doing it for a hundred years and now everybodys getting in on it. Well-know- n cowboy poets like Waddie Mitchell and Baxter Black performing at poetry events such as the annual gathering at Elko, Nev., really got it going, Keller stated. Its one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the western United States right now. Kellers poetry stems from his Keller has also written short stories and is working on a novel. However, he prefers writing cowboy poetry because, he says, Ive been a performer all my life, and the poetry allows him to combine writing and acting. I acted in high school and college and I like to perform whenever I can, he said. In addition, he has acted in and written melodramas for the Old Bam Playhouse and worked as an extra in some of the movies and TV series filmed in this area. Kellers library performance will focus on material that is humorous. If people can identify with it and you put it in a different light then theyre used to, itll get to their funny bone. If theyre raised with it, theyll laugh, he said. Soon enough the down, suns gone The days been hard an long; None too soon the campfires lit, Its time for a lonesome song. With stars in the sky an the moon half lit, An a usual supper of beans; A saddle pillow an a bedroll shawl, own experiences as a cowboy and An coyote an cattle filled from listening to stories told by dreams. wranglers and ranchers with --Sandy Knolls c. 1991 whom he has worked. I hear Kanab resident Sandy Knolls Local cowboy poet Doug Keller will stories and make poems out of I he said. few a of Sometimes favorite his been combining his artistic has them, present cowboy this interview he added. and performing abilities with poems Saturday. people, cowboy poetry since 1990. His entry into the world of performing involved his portrayal of Orrin Porter Rockwell at a LDS It's New! It's Here! father and son outing in the Grafton, Utah, area. From there The he continued writing and performing when he moved to Mesa, AZ a year and a half later. I had a void to fill, so I just startBig Book ing writing cowboy poetry, Knolls recalls. Ive been doing it more for fun than glory, he Purchase the JCPenney SpringSummer Big Book and discover over 1 ,400 pages of spring fashions II Good Neighbor for you, your family and home. J Pharmacy JCPenney SpringSummer Sandy Knolls is one of the featured performers at the Kanab City Librarys Cowboy Heritage Night this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. added. Knolls poetry and pen and ink artwork has appeared in the Mesa Tribune, Phoenix Gazette , Arizona Republic, Apache Junction Independent and Southern Utah News. He also developed his own line of poetry booklets entitled Spinning Yams, and greeting cards called CoffeePot Art that feature his poetry and drawings. At times, he has utilized his writing and performing talents to create radio United Drugs r Purchase your copy for only $5 and receive a Waft Disney movie $10 Catalog Certificate to use when you place your next Catalog order. Stop by your nearest JCPenney today! also available by phone or online Call and askforTA004-1392Ao- r log on to JCPenney.com it's all inside m IS $ Only While supply lasts JC Penney Jones Catalog 644-270- KANAB UNITED DRUG Your Good Neighbor Pharmacy 0 310 S 100 East wxr ' ja1 IS1 ) 3 57 West Center Kanab (435) His Arizona poetry performances have taken him to Tempe, Chandler, Casa Grande, Apache Junction and throughout the Mesa area. I entertained in a lot of RV parks, he said. While in Utah, he has written and performed for Parowans Iron County Cowboy Days, various church and tour groups, Deer Springs Ranch, and Kanabs square dance club. Some ofKnolls poetry is based on his personal experiences. Other poems result from reading western history or writing about stories people have told him. He explained that writing poetry is just like writing a book or movie script. You need a plot, character or characters, and a little conflict, he said. I find it more difficult to write a short poem than a longer one, because I like to set the scene and develop a story. Its a tale in poetic verse. Most everything I do has a little bit of humor to it, he added. Knolls attributes cowboy poetrys growing popularity to peoples desire to return to a slower time. People are too , caught up in their everyday rat 644-241- 8. Sce LIBRARY, Flgge ; .Tj |