Bud Phenix is a man of few words - except when it comes to chronicling cowboy life and prairie history in his poetry.
“I was born near Saskairie and I cowboyed for about 25 years,” says the 78-year-old Carlyle resident. “Mostly in Saskatchewan. I herded cattle with horses and did leatherwork and silverwork building my own saddles.”
“My grandfather, Ike Scarrow was a cowboy. He lived in the hills near Arcola, so it's part of my heritage.”
Phenix's poems are based on real prairie life and real prairie people. Although his work has been published in a poetry anthology - 'Let's Rodeo' (Grand Valley Press, Moose Jaw, 1994) - he doesn't write for that reason.
“I started writing years ago, for something to do. Now, I'm inspired by my kids: Marla, Lori and Bobby. I want to keep my memories alive for them.”
One of Phenix's poems in “Let's Rodeo' is a tribute to “one of my cowboy friends who passed away.” In an excerpt from that poem, he writes:
“Come gather round me rodeo fans,
And sit with me a spell,
I will tell you a story of cowboys and bucking horses
And some of my friends' souls that were spared from hell.”
In 'The Story of Hough's Hollow', Phenix dedicates the poem “In honour of Bob Cann and his wife who lost three children to diptheria in the Moose Mountains in 1898.”
“In a letter, Mrs. Cann said, 'We laid three away,'” explains Phenix. “This one kind of wrote itself.”
“Now life is not meant to be squandered or spent,
But sometimes there are things that are beyond our control.
In one week, three of their kids died, with their parents at side,
The diptheria and flu had taken its toll.”
“No organ to play, or a preacher to play,
Nor a choir to preach a Lord's poem.
A lot of tears were shed, as they mourned for their dead.
While the angels carried them home.”
In the poem, 'My Levis Jeans,' Phenix writes about a twentieth-century cowboy - himself:
“I could ride in the saddle
Without any fear
Them Levis Jeans
Sure saved my rear.”
Phenix estimates that he has written “About 20 poems in my lifetime, sometimes two poems a year - and some take longer to write than others.”
The poet says a story inspired by his “Grandpa Phenix” is a blend of both the prairie past and his family history - the two main elements of his writing:
Grandpa Was A Pioneer
“My heroes are our forefathers
Who homesteaded around here.
By just following their dreams -
To be a pioneer.
They challenged the odds
As they came on ahead.
Then they broke up the sod
On their little homestead.
Their tools were very limited
Sometimes just an oxen and a cow
They built a sod shanty
From the sod from their plow.
They churned their own butter
And they baked their own bread.
They grew a large garden
That kept their families fed.
They hauled firewood from the hills,
Where the poplars grew tall.
Then they harvested their crops
Later on in the fall.
They took a few lessons
From the school of hard knocks.
Like when two epidemics came through,
Spreading diptheria and smallpox.
To prosper was their reward.
Through hard work and self-esteem.
But they came through it all
By just following their dream.
“I do this to keep my memories alive and to keep western heritage alive,” says Phenix.
“It's my way of preserving our history.”
