Immediately following our annual meeting (2-2:30), come listen to a program of Cowboy Poetry by Betty Burlingham.
Cowboy poetry is a unique and celebrated form of American verse that emerged from the cultural experiences of ranch workers in the West. Betty Burlingham, a molecular biologist by trade, gave it up expectedly for love and ranching 46 years ago, and has owned ranches in KS and NC. She been writing and sharing poetry about her amazing and everyday experiences for 14 years, most recently on a trip to the Amazon.
Betty is a two-ime winner of the Kansas Cowboy Poetry Contest and was named 2026 Champion Cowgirl Poet at the Oklahoma Crossroads Gathering.
She traded microscopes for morning light,
Forty-six years following love into a rancher's life.
Once a biologist charting secrets too small to see,
Now a cowgirl poet with a voice wide as the prairie.
From Manhattan's hills to the far-flung range,
Betty Burlingham's stories never stay tame.
So settle in close - today her words take the reins,
And carry us across Kansas on the sure footed plains.
