{"id":19706,"date":"2026-03-16T19:02:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T19:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artsmidwest.org\/?p=19706"},"modified":"2026-03-16T21:19:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T21:19:22","slug":"ken-cook-midwest-culture-bearer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsmidwest.org\/stories\/ken-cook-midwest-culture-bearer\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Ken Cook, Sharing Cowboy Culture Through Poetry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For Ken Cook of Martin, South Dakota\u2014poet, performer, and ranch hand\u2014inspiration is the easy part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you have an ounce of creativity in you,\u201d he says, \u201cif you come to this country and go to the sandhills, where good horses and cattle are raised and the families have been for generations, there\u2019s poetry all around.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cook is a 2025 Midwest Culture Bearer<\/a> awardee. His work is \u201cthe poetry of the working cowboy,\u201d flowing from years of hard work on horseback, chasing cattle and building a life. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\n A core feature of poet Ken Cook’s practice is live performance. He often shares the stage with his friend, singer-songwriter Paul Larson. The duo are known as Cowboy Culture South Dakota Style.\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n \n \n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n

Cowboy poetry\u2014a name that Cook says some appreciate and others find limiting\u2014stretches back to the 19th century. Cowboys put their stories of trailing cattle and braving fearsome weather into rhyme so they could remember, he says. \u201cStories turned into songs and poems. And it continues to this day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cook was a full-time rancher for decades, but he started as an actor. He studied Theatre Arts at Southern Utah State College, performed at the renowned Utah Shakespeare Festival, and was considering grad school. But his father\u2019s passing brought Cook to a crossroads. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\n \u201cSome think Nebraska and South Dakota are \u2018flyover states\u2019 because there\u2019s \u2018nothing out there,\u2019\u201d says Ken Cook. \u201cIn my opinion, everything is out here. This country is my life.\u201d\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n \n \n <\/figure>\n\n
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He decided to move to the upper Great Plains, where he\u2019d spent summers ranching with his mother\u2019s family in Nebraska and South Dakota.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved it as much as I loved acting,\u201d says Cook. \u201cI came back and rebuilt a life here, and it\u2019s been a wonderful life. But boy, you can\u2019t get rid of that other itch.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a rancher, Cook found himself jotting down his experiences on the job. (\u201cHaving a major in Theatre Arts and a minor in English Lit, you\u2019re bound to pick up a pencil whether you\u2019re a cowboy or not,\u201d he says.) In 1987, when he received Waddie Mitchell\u2019s Christmas Poems<\/i> with a note saying, \u201cRead this aloud,\u201d and heard the legendary Baxter Black recite cowboy poetry to a packed gymnasium in Martin, Cook realized how to scratch that itch.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom there on,\u201d he says, \u201cI was writing poetry.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n \n\n\n\n<\/g>\n\n\n\n<\/clipPath>\n<\/defs>\n<\/svg> Photo Credit: Rebecca DeWitt \/ Arts Midwest<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n When the time came to perform his poems aloud, Cook says the nerves were \u201cworse than when I was working on being a professional actor!\u201d But it scratched that itch. He kept writing.\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n
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\n \n\n\n\n<\/g>\n\n\n\n<\/clipPath>\n<\/defs>\n<\/svg> Photo Credit: Rebecca DeWitt \/ Arts Midwest<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n Paul Larson (left) and Ken Cook of Cowboy Culture South Dakota Style have a decades-long friendship, and their work is a celebration of craft and a way of life.\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n
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\n \n\n\n\n<\/g>\n\n\n\n<\/clipPath>\n<\/defs>\n<\/svg> Photo Credit: Rebecca DeWitt \/ Arts Midwest<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n The Cowboy Culture South Dakota Style duo share stories and songs with diverse audiences across the country.\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n
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\n \n\n\n\n<\/g>\n\n\n\n<\/clipPath>\n<\/defs>\n<\/svg> Photo Credit: Rebecca DeWitt \/ Arts Midwest<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n Poet Ken Cook performs with singer-songwriter Paul Larson at an event in western South Dakota.\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n\n
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