Paul Zarzyski -- Musings from Planet UniPoet:

This is NOT my fault. For the record, I tried to talk the Western Folklife Center staff out of my participation here. "To quote Muhammad Ali in his pugilistic/poetic prime," I candidly warned them, "I'm a baaaaaddddd man!" Then however, I reread their mission statement, the part about being "sensitive to the rich, varied, and layered identities of the peoples of the American West." Rich, nope. But varied and layered? Yup, that's me alright (more layers than my ol' neighbor, Antonette Lombardo's roasting pan lasagna). In other words, purt-near anything goes here. I've been granted carte blanche, given the green light, complete with advance absolution. Mostly, I hope to focus-in on the poetic/lyrical line, the jagged-on-the-right--and sometimes left!--cliffhanger journey, the take-that-extra-tuck-'n'-let-the-lingo-buck raucous ride, which, if we're writing with rodeo TRY, should take us on a trek "where no man (or woman) has ever gone boldly before." We're talking the 4Fs of the creative process--Fearlessness, Freedom, Fierceness, Fun. We're talking the untamed, The Unforgiven, the unfenced, ungathered, unfettered Peckinpah-esque, lawless Deadwood writing of the west. "NO RULES!" my mentor, Dick Hugo, would proclaim--"well, maybe just one--don't be boring." With a hoist of the ol' bronco tonsil varnish--Pendleton Whiskey, with its red buckin' hoss twister label--here's to abiding by that singular dictum.