Photo: Kevin Martini-Fuller
Kye Rieff's poetry comes from years spent on the ranch and in the arena, and provides an authentic look into the joy, humor, heartbreak, and hardship of the cowboy life. Kye has ridden saddle broncs, been a professional bullfighter, trained racehorses, started colts, and dayworked for ranches -- anything to keep from having a real job. He lives with his wife Kasey and their two children in Missouri where Kye and Kasey are founders of Top Hand Clinics, a ministry that uses horsemanship and ranch work to share the gospel.
Kye is the author of two books of cowboy poetry, Real Ones and A Few More Real Ones. His next book, Authentic, or Something Like It, is in the works.
Kye won the 2023 Kansas Cowboy Poetry Contest's Serious Category, and has performed at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko.
From a review of one of his books: "A Few More Real Ones is a window into the cowboy life with all its pain, difficulties and the mysterious joy it provides to those who live it. Kye's poems narrate the adventures of running down wild cattle, training the horses that make cowboy life possible, and the pride of a life lived in open country."
