Oklahoma State Cowboy Poet Laureate

Francine Roark Robison

Adopted on May 22, 2000.

The Oklahoma State Cowboy Poet

Laureate was adopted on May 22,2000.

After a career of teaching high school English and humanities, Francine Roark Robison took retirement seriously by trading in a high school classroom to go on the road with Cowboy Poetry. However, retirement didn't last long, and she is now an adjunct teacher at Oklahoma Baptist University. She has taught in Oklahoma as well as summer sessions in Mexico and China.

Francine's background includes a farmer dad and a schoolmarm mom. She writes from personal experience or from family stories passed down from her parents, with most of the settings in southern Oklahoma and the Arbuckle Mountains. Farm life included a horse, a collie dog, and numerous cats. She didn't walk five miles in the snow to school, but she did walk down to the cattle guard to catch the school bus, carrying her homework and Roy Rogers lunch box.

She has performed at several gatherings, including the Oklahoma and Texas State Fairs; the Red Steagall Gathering in Ft. Worth; Cowboys, Heroes, and Friends in Branson; the Chisholm Trail Festival in Yukon; the Poetry Society of Tennessee in Memphis; the Farm and Ranch Heritage Gathering in Las Cruces; Festival of the West in Scottsdale; Echoes of the Trail in Ft. Scott; National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City; Western Heritage Classic in Abilene, Texas; Bookfest 2000 in Dyersburg, Tennessee, and many others, as well as a couple of pig roasts.

House Concurrent Resolution No. 1089
A Concurrent Resolution stating that
Cowboy Poet Francine Roark Robison be designated
the honorary position of State Cowboy Poet Laureate;
and directing distribution.
WHEREAS, Francine Roark Robison is a dedicated and creative Oklahoma teacher having taught English and Humanities in a high school classroom for twenty years prior to leaving the classroom for a new venture; and
WHEREAS, her new venture became writing and expounding on the gifts of her "Cowboy Poetry"; and
WHEREAS, Francine Roark Robison writes from family stories which have been passed down from her parents and from excerpts of her own life and personal experiences; and
WHEREAS, most of the settings of this Cowboy Poetry are set in the beautiful southern parts of Oklahoma and in the Arbuckle Mountains; and
WHEREAS, Francine Roark Robison is a well-known member of the Oklahoma Writing Project and has been published in Christian Single Magazine and in Oklahoma English Journal; and

WHEREAS, the last few lines of "Lost and Found" written by Francine Roark Robison state:

"I was that maverick, wandering alone
Through darkness of night, far from home,
Till Jesus, the Shepherd, called out my name —
To loving arms and salvation I came.
The cowboy searches for critters he's lost,
Like Jesus, he gives all, not counting the cost."; and

WHEREAS, the gifted and creative Francine Roark Robison's poetry reflects the heart of Oklahoma and portrays a positive and beautiful image of our state; and
WHEREAS, this Cowboy Poet, the talented Francine Roark Robison, deserves the honor of being designated the State Cowboy Poet Laureate.
Now, Therefore, be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the 2nd Session of the 47th Oklahoma Legislature, the Senate concurring therein:
THAT members of this proud Legislature state that Francine Roark Robison be designated as State Cowboy Poet Laureate in Oklahoma.
THAT a copy of this resolution be distributed to Francine Roark Robison.

Adopted by the House of Representatives the 4th day of May, 2000.
Adopted by the Senate the 19th day of May, 2000.
Filed with the Secretary of State May 22, 2000.