The ranching and cattle culture today, while heavily influenced by modern conveniences, still remains a hands-on culture. Because of the variety of conditions existing on each ranch, individual creativity is essential to the lifestyle and survival of the cowboy and his day-to-day work. The same qualities essential to the working cowboy have also produced an evolution in cowboy poetry. As the third in a series of cowboy poetry books which have taken this evolution from the very traditional Cowboy Poetry: A Gathering, to the more innovative New Cowboy Poetry: A Contemporary Gathering, the new Maverick Western Verse now pushes cowboy poetry right to the cutting edge.