Stratton continues his exploration of alter ego alleyways in his second book of poetry. Written in both verse and prose-poem form, the pieces in the book form a poetic concept album dealing much with time and place and family, both real and imagined. The poems draw images from a tough society populated by oilfield roughnecks, bootleggers, brawlers, and outlaws. Ranchero Ford/Dying in Red Dirt Country is bookended by long pieces exploring loss in the unforgiving territory.
Order from any bookstore, local or online. This title is also available from of Galveston, Texas.
W.K. Stratton (friends call him by his middle name) is the Los Angeles Times bestselling author of The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, a Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Film and eight other books. He was born in Guthrie, Oklahoma, but has lived much of his life in Texas. Both his mother's and father's families had deep roots in the West. His mother's family homesteaded outside Guthrie during the Great Land Run of 1889. His father was a rodeo cowboy from Denver's skid row as well as a runaway dad. He became the subject of Stratton's book, Chasing the Rodeo.