Bio
Badger Clark (1883–1957), South Dakota’s first poet laureate, is best known for his “A Cowboy’s Prayer,” erroneously attributed to “Anonymous” and a mainstay at rodeos across the United States. After spending much of his childhood in Deadwood, South Dakota, Badger escaped a harrowing experience in Cuba and then found his vocation as a cowboy and a poet in Arizona.
Author Nancy Bo Flood describes Badger’s poetry as “Shakespeare meets Walt Whitman during a cattle drive.” He had a way of expressing that smooth, rolling, clip-clop rhythm of horse and rider, and his legacy as a bard of the American West endures. For over one hundred years, Badger Clark’s poems have been sung and celebrated at poetry gatherings, rodeos, and many a cowboy’s final farewell. His plain and simple verses spoke of his love for the land and a deep appreciation for a life lived close to nature. “Badger Clark: Poetry Wrangler” tells the story of this iconic Western writer and celebrates his enduring poetry.
