About the Author

Hilma (Volcano) Volk

About My Stuff:

People don't know what to call me -- in reference to this poetry stuff I mean. Cowboy poet doesn't seem to fit. Cowgal or cowgirl poet sounds kind of fluffy. Cowboy poetess - now what the heck is that?

I prefer to call myself a rhyming storyteller. I like a broader genre. Call my work Country-Fried Baloney.

I've listened to literary poets, too sophisticated for rhyme or meter, reciting with their noses to pages in an almost monotonic drone, saying much and telling little with hidden meanings and layered suppositions. Yawn!

Works of the master storytellers, like Baxter Black and Robert Service are not sophisticated, but they are clever and brilliant. My heros.

My goal is to entertain. If there are any hidden meanings in my work, they are hidden from me as well. And when I'm before an audience, my poetry is neither read nor recited, it is performed.

My poems relate to wildlife, horses, mountain and country life and (of course) the ridiculous.

And yes, every word of what I say is true (but not necessarily the sentences or paragraphs).

About Me:

I worked with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for 8½ years. That ended me up in North Dakota where I pushed pencils over mounds of government reports about the wildlife we'd be managing if we didn't have so much paperwork. In my spare time I trained horses and helped neighbors hay and herd cattle.

Although I've lived a lot of places and done a lot of things, most of them are fuzzy remembrances by choice.

I have a B.S. (we all know what that stands for) from Michigan State University.

Rather than spending a fourth winter in North Dakota I decided to take a hike. I left to backpack solo through the Rockies the Canadian border to New Mexico. There I coined the now popular phrase, “You know your feet are sore when you step in cow pies ‘cause they’re soft.”

After a few unfortunate events like my mom having a severe stroke, I owned and operated a riding stable for 4½ years, offering trail rides, wagon and sleigh rides, as well as lessons and horse training. The high cost of liability insurance caused the business to fold.

Since then I worked with delinquent teenagers on a wagon train, held a host of “manure type” jobs in many states, and was the wrangler at a guest ranch in Montana for four years. Since 1991 I've been a professional, licensed massage therapist (some events overlap). Currently I live near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

During all this irrelevant stuff, I have entertained throughout six western states. My works have appeared in numerous publications. Most people, especially ones that think they know me well, are amazed at the transformation that takes place when I have a microphone in my hand. Give me an audience and I'm golden.

Hilma (Volcano) Volk

cdamassage@hotmail.com