poems of the mountains and deserts

and campfire recitations

By Duane Rossi

Duane Rossi, Harriette Allison, Gary Rossi

___________________________________

100 Proof Publishing Company

Bishop, California

Copyright 1988 by Duane Rossi

All Rights Reserved

First Edition

Composed and printed in the Sierra Nevada

CONTENTS

Dedication 1

About the Author 2

Introduction 3

Monache Rodeo 5

Taylor-n-Mull 16

Pete 19

Old Bob 25

The Ferrier 28

Andy 33

Saucerfoot 38

Rose Valley Opera 43

Spooky Meadows 46

Hump Back 49

The Trapper 52

Bobcat 56

The Saddle 59

Family 65

Grandma 72

The Open Book 76

2:AM Lies 82

Sierra Sunset 83

Born and Raised a Cowboy 91

DEDICATION

When I decided to put my poems in book form, I did like everybody else in the world does, I went back to my family for help.

When I reached Big Pine, I found that most of my cousins had migrated to greener pastures. I was lucky enough to find two still hanging around the old homestead. One, a poor leppy runt that had been raised on fish heads and spaghetti, the other, a World War Two baby (need I say more about this?).

Nonetheless, they seemed willing to work long hours for no pay and a lot of laughs. Without their help I would never have gotten this wreck on paper.

Thanks a million, Gary and Harriette.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Duane Rossi was born and raised in the Owens Valley. He spent most of his life trapping, packing and doing general ranch work. His poetry has entertained audiences from the mountain tops to local watering holes. Through the encouragement of family and friends alike, the book is finally a reality. Duane's children, Danny, Toni and April were also raised in the Valley. The Rossi family have been in the Owens Valley for over 100 years and each feels to be a local expert at Valley lore.

100 Proof Publishing Company

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INTRODUCTION

The way I started writing poetry was when a friend of mine asked me to finish a poem that he had started. At the time I was operating the pack station out of Tunnel Meadows. It was late in the fall so I had plenty of time but in my opinion no talent.

Evenings being pretty empty with no television, radio, or companions, I started working at the poem. I began by changing the names and places and adding some more places and events and trying to make them rhyme. By the end of the week I had a poem I thought would pass.

When I came out of the mountains I was pleasantly surprised because not only did my poem pass the approval of my friends and a few strangers but it was also good for a few drinks at the local bar, where my poetry is most famous.

After trying my hand and getting my feet wet and being able to make people laugh or cry at stories that rhyme, I found it fairly easy to start putting poems together about experiences I have had and people I've known, in and around Inyo and Mono counties, the Sierra mountains and the surrounding deserts where I was born and have lived all my life thus far.

My experience, at telling my poems, whether to friends or strangers in the local bar or around a campfire, in the mountains, at a rodeo or a local roping, has been that the poems have meant a little more to the listener if I lead into them with a little history about why I wrote it, or where and when it took place.

This is why this book is going to be more than just a book of poems. I hope you will enjoy reading a lot of my local history, a few facts, a little fiction and perhaps a lot of bull.

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