The web home of M.T. Justice
Stories of the Old West as Cowboy Poetry
Hey, betcha didn’t know! I write music, too! That song above, “Hey, Good Lookin” is all mine. Plus, this site has a whole mess of videos on everything from country comedy, to country music and videos created and written by me, and a whole mess of YouTube links to my various works. But, if you love cowboy styled poems, or “western style poetry” as it often called, this is the place for some of the best of it, although I never did any real ranching, and most of what I write comes from what I’ve read or watched, including every book Zayne Gray, or Louis L’Amour ever wrote, a load of TV series, most cowboy type movies, and a rather extensive library of old west biographies and auto-biographies. And for sure, my style is unique. I call them “cinematic cowboy poems” because they are all stories that often give you the feeling of watching a big screen western movie. It is definitely a very modern twist to most of the traditional cowboy poetry out there and features complete stories done as narrative poems about the individuals who made the Old West great, and even includes those who live in the more modern west. The author is listed as “Marshal T. Justice“, a pseudonym for the western stories, western style cowboy poems, and country music of Jon Gutmacher — me. For some reason, “Marshal T. Justice” just seemed to fit my western story writing better than my real name, and it just felt “right”. I often perform my western style poems, and when I do I’m usually just introduced as “M.T.” or “M.T. Justice“. For those not familiar with the work of Jon Gutmacher, me — I’ve been writing narrative poetry since 2011, and my other website – mostly of fantasy poetry – has been ranked by Google as the top single author “best fantasy poetry website” in the United States since 2011 — although my fascination and work on cowboy poetry mostly began in earnest back in 2022 when I started reading the personal histories of many of the men and women who were actually on the frontier, although I had read just about everything Louis L’Amour and Zayne Grey ever wrote, and then some. Of course, the thing that really sets my poetry apart from true cowboy poems, and makes them special is that they are all written as complete stories. Cowboy stories, cowgirl stories, stories about the frontier, stories about the people back then to now on the range and in their towns and travels — all put into western styled cowboy poems so smooth you’ll rarely even notice your reading verse rather than just a wonderful story that either brings a tear or smile — and sometimes just a laugh.
The front and back covers of my book of western styled cowboy poems are shown below, as well some information on the book. It is a unique work, with 24 really great western styled cowboy poems, and 22 great archive photos. The book is a great read, and a terrific gift, and like I said, also contains 22 archive photos of the Old West. Copies can be purchased on Amazon either the electronic Kindle version, or in print. Here’s the link to the Amazon page right here at this link: https://www.amazon.com/Old-West-Times-Gone-Collection-ebook/dp/B0BMD48J11 Also, there are other links throughout this website to some of my YouTube videos including my cowboy poetry, some awesome country songs I’ve composed and recorded with video, a few tongue-in-cheek cowboy comedy videos, and a couple of videos just about the book. Please check them out — they are fun to watch, and many have a country music background! You can also get to these western style cowboy poems online at YouTube simply by going to YouTube and typing in my name “Jon Gutmacher” which will bring up all my videos including the cowboy poetry ones. By the way, there’s one western styled cowboy poem in the book, not on any video, called “Montana“, that I consider “groundbreaking” in the annals of cowboy poetry — and is written in chapters detailing the life story of a boy on the frontier who becomes a deputy sheriff, and later a major cattle rancher. It’s his life story! Quite like reading a Zayne Grey western novel set to a cowboy poem. It’s quite a story — and I foretell it will one day be recognized for how unique it is, and become an American western style poetry Classic, and among the best of those poems.
In essence, a friend once gave me a great compliment about my cowboy stories saying: “You don’t write cowboy poetry – you just happen to write great stories with rhythm”. Yup! That’s what I do. Hope you agree.
Thanks for stopping by! M.T. Justice aka Jon Gutmacher
The music in the video is Ned Keefe & Hot Buttered Rum from YouTube music. Makes me tap my foot every time I hear it!
The book, “The Old West & Times Gone By” contains twenty four original cowboy poetry stories of the Old and New West by “M.T.” (as we call him) as cowboy poems [ie: narrative poems of the Old West] along with twenty two archive photos of the Old West including some famous, and some not so. These are stories set to cowboy poems that will grab your heart, get your blood running, bring a tear, or just put a smile on your face. You can purchase an autographed copy using the button below. Likewise, if you’d like to see a great new YouTube video where I appear as “M.T.”, and narrate my Old West poem (ie: “cowboy poem”) “Jessi and Wes” — sort of a 1950’s or so New American West cowboy poem and life story of a young couple who meet in a cowboy bar — please click the photo link above, or use the direct link:
It really is a beautiful, tender life story of a young couple who meet out west in a cowboy bar, and fall in love at first sight. There are also at least three other Youtube videos of the cowboy poems of Marshal T. Justice you can find: Katie Elder, an old west poem about a tough Kansas lady who takes out three desperados with her six gun, Curtis Grey, a great cowboy poem about a mountain man who comes into a backwoods saloon for a drink, and finds a lot more, and “The Cowgirl” — one of my favorite cowboy poems about a tough rancher gal whose daddy owns a major cattle ranch who can outmatch just about any male on off the range – doing anything. All of them are personally narrated and performed by me as “M.T.” — and by the way, you can usually catch me performing once a month at the Arts Garage poetry night in Delray Beach, Florida. If you do, please say “Howdy”, and say you saw the website! I know I’d love to meet ya!
The cover photo on the book is a archive photo of Nelli Bly, probably the best known, and one of the few frontier female newspaper reporters of the American West. Her image is absolutely haunting to me. And, by the way — there are a load of great stories about Nelli around. She was a rare breed, way ahead of her time. Maybe M.T. will get a chance to do a cowboy poem about her one day? autographed — is here! There is also an electronic version available as well as a hard copy version on Amazon — just click the following link: https://www.amazon.com/Old-West-Times-Gone-Collection-ebook/dp/B0BMD48J11