Ron Wilson

Ron Wilson is a Kansas cowboy poet. He lives with his family on the Lazy T Ranch in Riley County, Kansas, where he grew up. Ron writes a regular cowboy poetry column for the Grass & Grain newspaper and is the host of a weekly television show named Cowboy Up. He also chairs the Kansas Cowboy Poetry Contest. Ron won first place in the cowboy poetry contests at the Kansas Cowboy Symposium in Dodge City and at the Echoes of the Trail festival in Fort Scott, and was a top five finisher at the National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo. Ron’s poems have appeared in Kansas! magazine, RFD-TV, and the Field Journal of the Symphony in the Flint Hills. He is the first cowboy poet in history to present a poem at the inauguration of the Governor of Kansas. Ron was named an Ambassador for the National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum in Fort Worth, Texas and was proclaimed by then-Governor of Kansas Bill Graves as “Poet Lariat” (NOT Laureate).

Ron writes and performs all original poetry in full costume, complete with audience participation. Poems and stories focus on both Kansas western history and contemporary ranch life. Programs can be tailored to all ages, from kindergarten to senior citizens, and presented to schools, libraries, historical groups, festivals, businesses and more. The poetry is fun, family-oriented, patriotic, relates well with people, and most of the time, it even rhymes.

• $500 plus travel expenses, adjusted as needed for non-profit group budgets.

Ron has participated in various types of events from Kansas Day at senior centers to Rodeo Reading Roundups at public libraries.

With youth, Ron does a program called “Be a Cowboy Poet Today” where students identify western concepts and create their own simple poems using those words.