I was born (Tamara Anne Dicus) in Twisp, Washington, a small ranching/logging community in the northern part of the state. My dad was a logger, and our family lived on a twelve acre farm where we raised everything we ate.

Chores and hard work were part of our everyday lives in order to exist in the beautiful Methow (pronounced Met-how) Valley where I enjoyed a wonderful childhood being a 'Country Kid.'

Milking cows, slopping hogs, feeding chickens, mucking out stalls, hoeing a huge garden, canning and picking fruit in the fall, were just a few of the chores me and my siblings were assigned. But it was not all work and no play. Each day consisted of adventures with my two brothers, (Clyde and Steven), neighborhood kids, and animal friends; In spring and summer months―running barefoot, riding horses, playing in haylofts, swimming in frigid river waters, sitting on the fence while watching cowboys brand cattle or break wild horses, and sleeping under the stars on warm nights was part of the fun. Fall and winter consisted of―daydreaming as we kicked through red, yellow and orange leaves that floated to the ground, riding horses, catching snowflakes on our tongues in winter, sucking ice sickles, sledding and tobogganing, building snow castles, ice skating on the river, and just plain good ol’ outdoor-fun in the cold, snowy countryside.

When I married my husband of thirty-five years, I brought three children from a previous marriage, (he brought two) into the union. Because of a failing economy at that time in our little community, we were forced to move the family to the more urban areas on the west side of the mountains of Washington state in order to procure a decent living. Though I was far from home and living in  an entirely different climate, my heart remained in the beloved Methow Valley.

After a thirty-year career as a beautician and owner of salons, I retired and pursued my true passion―“WRITING.” Naturally, I was most comfortable in writing poems and prose from warm memories of country and cowboy life back home. Thus, cowboy poetry and western novels came easily to me, and I started a new career writing mostly on these two subjects.

I often perform on western radio, and have been invited to do stage work as well at cowboy jamborees and gatherings all across this nation and Canada. I have four books published, “PURE COUNTRY," “DUSTY TRAILS,” TALES OF BS SCRUGGS," and "HEROES AND VILLIANS OF THE OLD WEST," with more to come...
 

At the end of 2007, my husband, Steve and I, retired to a home in Arizona.                    

Your comments are welcomed; and you can contact Tamara by email: westernpoetess@yahoo.com


No material on this webpage may be excerpted, copied, reproduced, used or performed in any form (graphic, electronic or mechanical),
for any purpose  without the express written permission of the featured artist or poet.
 
 

                                               HOME                           NEXT