Harold Carpenter of Sedan has published a new book, “Where The Coyotes Howl and the Bobcats Prowl.”
Carpenter is known throughout this region for his cowboy poetry and the book comprises many of his favorite writings.

Bill Kurtis wrote the introduction for the book including the following lines: “Standing on a rise above the Middle Caney River near Harold Carpenter’s hometown of Sedan, Kansas, when the setting sun sprays orange on the clouds, you’re close enough to touch the sky. Harold has touched it and we’re lucky he’s written it all down so we can touch it, too.”

Carpenter was born in Chautauqua County in 1930 just before the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. His early years were spent working on farms and ranches where trick roping was picked up an an early age.

He includes a few rope tricks any time he is asked to read his cowboy poetry. He has been been writing such poems for almost 40 years and was published in “The Western Horseman” magazine in 1967 and again in 1970.

Some of his work is included in “Prairie Poetry” cowboy verse of Kansas and also “Missouri Cowboy Poetry.”

He has presented programs for state conventions of four different groups and the National Convention of Barbwire Collectors. He was opening act for “The Riders in the Sky” in Parsons and has appeared several times at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City.

Harold and his wife, Naida, are now retired. She worked with him in organizing the book and taking photos to help illustrate some of his poems. Several other artists are credited in his book with providing hand-drawn illustrations.

The book was printed by Mennonite Press in Newton, Kan.

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