There ain't much in Spitwhistle, TX, except some cowboys, some longnecks, and the Saddle Horn Bar. Needless to say, this West Texas town isn't much of a tourist destination. Desperate to lure visitors to their dying town, the residents have organized an annual cowboy poetry contest, where cowboys can compete for the chance at winning $500 and "to be high-thought-of... for a change".

But when a TV crew from PBS arrives to film the contest as part of a documentary on cowboy poetry, the prospect of appearing on national TV and winning a $5,000 purse ups the stakes. The romance of the mythic West swirls around the barroom as young guns, old-timers, and even an English professor masquerading as a cowboy face off in a poetry showdown to determine who's the best pen in the West.

Winner of the Hill Country Playwriting Festival Peoples' Choice Award 2007.
Winner of the Backdoor Theatre New Play Award 2003.