Performing Poetry
by Mike Moutoux,
Western Entertainer & Cowboy Poet

One of my favorite poets, Mike Dunn, will be performing at the Tyrone Cowboy Poetry and Music Gathering next month and my wife and I will be their hosts while they are in town. I’ve always used the word “performing” rather than reciting and Mike is a good example of a poet who understands the difference. When poetry is performed, the delivery has elements that a simple recitation does not. Mike pauses now and then to create suspense and to let the audience catch up as images take form in their own minds. He uses simple hand gestures like the wag of a finger, adding visual clues that enhance what the mind is hearing as well. Mike is a communicator who knows how to get a message across. And his messages are delivered in such a natural way that listeners might believe he is making it up as he goes along. If you’ve ever heard Mike, you’ll know what I mean.

There’s a lot more to performing than just memorizing the lines and repeating them to an audience. When a cowboy poet gets up on a stage or delivers a poem around a campfire, they become something special---an entertainer. Their job is to take people on a journey so intense and so real that the real world slips away. A good cowboy poet will take you to world of big county, wonderful horses, wild cattle, and the cowboys who live and work there. Mike Dunn will take you to a world where two things are certain: one, you’ll feel like you belong there; two, like you have a friend there. That he can do this in just ten or twelve minutes tell me that he’s one to ride the river with and one welcome at a campfire anytime.