Those of us who practice the art of cowboy poetry make a lot of chin music about what exactly it is. I have long been of mind that much of what parades around dressed up as cowboy poetry isn't isn't poetry at all. But what qualifies as one string of sounds as poetry, yet prevents another, seemingly similar set of words from claiming the name? I stumble around for the answers and my opinions don't much matter. Then again, maybe they do and so do yours if we all bother to become informed on the subject.

Growing up, I was fed on a steady diet of Shakespeare, Shelley, Wordsworth, Milton, Tennyson, Emerson, Whittier and the like. It fed in me a fire to write as good as they in my own way. I've been writing poetry ever since I could pick up a pencil and write my own name. It comes as natural as breathing and one of my father's kin is the poet Philip Larkin.

Cowboy poetry displays several "marks"

* An imaginative element;interpreting old matter in new ways, giving us new delight in familiar things.

* Combining unlike images and feelings to form new ones.

*Transcending the apparent, or obvious, to approach a new truth or ideal.

*An emotional element, a depth of feeling that's richer than actual life.

*Emphasis on beauty- to resolve the uncouth, the unfinished, the unseemly, the inartistic, into harmony.

*Universality- though based specifics, there's an underlying appeal to the common interests of all.

*Sincerity and honest conviction, demonstrated through freshness, vitality, and depth.

*The restraint to avoid false emotion and overly ornate language, and instead rely on the power of understatement and subtlety to induce a sense of power.

All helpful if you think about it.

The characteristics of the language of poetry. In brief:

*Concreteness or writing that appeals to our senses and evokes vivid images. Show it, don't tell it.

*Use of Figurative Language as a shortcut to ideas and images;metaphor and simile, synecdoche and metonymy, personification and apostrophe.

*Allusions to literature and history.

*Tone Quality- grouping words to produce pleasing sounds; using alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia and such.

*Effective use of rhyme as a melodic element, for emphasis of ideas, and as an organizing element.

We have plenty to ponder as we practice poesy. We all benefit when it comes to reaching beyond "mere verse" to attaining the heights where real poetry resides.

"You call THAT a poem"? is an impertinent question- one I would never ask another writer. But it is one that I ask myself and answer honestly every time I put pen to paper. And so should you. :-)