Dick Gibford

Dick Gibford is a working cowboy who still checks backcountry springs from the saddle of his good horse Buddy. Sun-creased hands on the reins, long-sleeved shirt, hat pulled low -- Dick is the kind of man whose face tells the story before he ever speaks.

Dick is also a cowboy poet, keeping alive a tradition born on the cattle trails of the late 1800s. His poems come straight from the life he leads—rawhide braiding, tending cattle, living simply and off the grid. Cowboys once passed long nights with verse, song, and tall tales, and Dick carries that torch with quiet pride. He has published a volume of his poetry, Trail Dust, with a foreword by Waddie Mitchell.

He is a longtime performer at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada, and the subject of a new documentary, Cowboy Meditations, which will be shown on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2027 at 3:45 PM in Marshall Auditorium (ticket required). The director, Gary Milliken, will also be present for questions and discussion after the film.