FOLK COLLECTION 11: The Skaggs Foundation Cowboy Poetry Collection
Folk Coll 11 is Utah State University's cowboy poetry collection. The collection, originally created
by a generation donation by the L. J. and Mary Skaggs Foundation, includes books gathered
during a fieldwork project in the early 1980s to document cowboy poetry in the U.S. west (see Folk
Coll 11f). From this important fieldwork project came the impetus for the first Cowboy Poetry Gathering held in
January 1985 in Elko, Nevada. Since that time, each January, the Fife Folklore Archives staff take the collection
and Access database (that details each book, poem, author, first line and key words), to the National Cowboy Poetry
Gathering for offsite use. Through University purchases and generation donations from poets and collectors, this collection continues to grow.
Book Title
Composer
Call #
Pages
Author
Poem Title
First Lines
Keywords
Sittin' and A-Grinnin': A Collection of Works
Layle Bagley & Linda Merrill
FC 11 B-11
31
Colen H. Sweeten, Jr.
The Hired Man
I want you to know I have a name; As good as William, or George, or Dan.
West of East
FC 11 H-17
23
Harry Elmore Hurd
Hunting Fossils in Colorado
O fossil leaf, once trembling in a breeze.
immortality, rock, fossils, sediment, nature, ancient history
The Five Stages of Quitting Farming
John William Kulm
FOLK COLL 11 K-36
9
John William Kulm
Things I Recall
Six march side-by-side: Mechanical planter units on a tool bar.
memory, youth, farming
Up Sims Creek, The Third Trip
FOLK COLL 11 N-18
141
Rod Nelson
2009 Senior Olympics included two Dakotans
Those of us on the Northern Plains can't help but pay special interest when someone from a rural area makes it big and gets drafted on a major big league sports team, but there are few players from our area that get that chance. it tickled me to see that we do have some athletes of note from this area.
olympics, old people, walk, run
The Best of Robert Service
FOLK COLL 11 S-77
70
Robert Service
Athabaska Dick
When the boys come out from Lac Labiche in the lure of the early Spring, To take the pay of the "Hudson's Bay," as their fathers did before,
whiskey, risk, save, drowning
Buckaroo Ballads
FC 11 B-04
45
S. Omar Barker
A Cowpuncher Watches the Crowd
Hi, Pete! Yeah, I'm a-playin' corner post.
city folk, Tex Austin, crowd, watching people, cows
Shrewd Angles & Other Undertones
FC 11 D-16
21
John C. Dofflemyer
Just a Matter of Time
I dream I have to put the bay horse down to lurch awake in the muzzle blast as the old man collapses.
After the Chisholm
FC 11 R-45
83
George Rhoades
Hawks
Up along the ridge line, Hawks nested in the cedar trees, Then wings spread in the sunshine, They soared on the summer breeze. Razor-sharp talons and beaks,
sky, circling, quick, wind, hide
Cow Country
FC 11 E-04
30
Tom Ellinwood
Spring Madness
A scene like this is sad indeed.
tank, water, shotgun
Livestock Man
FOLK COLL 11 A-22
42
Amy Hale Auker
Sweetly Singing
The alarm sings at 4 a.m. Ours is a work song - a song of doing, with hands and hearts - a heartbeat song.
alarm, natural, action, movement
On the Edge of Common Sense
FC 11 B-12
57
Baxter Black
To the Feedlot Hoss
Boys, I offer a toast.
horses, love for horses, qualities of horses, black, bay, brown, spotted, sorrel, beauty, attitude, endurance, cold, patience, heat, pain, feelings, ache, sweat, four-legged pard, short on brains, long on heart
Cowboy Poetry: The Reunion
Virginia Bennett
FC 11 B-33
104
Doris Daley
Love is Blind
Meet Jake, my darling sweetheart. Oh, I know he's got his flaws. But I think I'm hearing wedding bells and I'm trapped in love's steel jaws.
"Cowboy'en Is Our Specialty"
FC 11 C-58
10
Wade Collins and Seven Mazzone
Shoeing Horses
My daddy used to shoe my horses, when I was short and small. It looked like a lot of work, so I paid no attention at all.
The Columbine Remembers
Anna Bowie May
FC 11 M-26
58
Frances May
Moments to Remember
Memories are the thoughts that come to us all
Graining the Mare: The Poetry of Ranch Women
Teresa Jordan
FC 11 J-10
16
Doris Bircham
Coffee Row
They gather each morning at the back of the old store.
Poetry of Ranch Women
Songs and Poems of the Old West by an Old Cowboy
FC 11 S-12
13
James H. Stevenson
Riding the Roundup
I can see the cattle grazing
Echoes of the Past: The Cowboy Poetry of Melvin Whipple
FC 11 W-17
32
Melvin Whipple
Memories of the Past
As I wrangle with my memories I'm thinking of the past.
Rhymes of Today and Yesterday!
FC 11 G-17
13
June Brander Gilman
Brander Sisters
Those sisters of mine were cowgirls fine.
The Fence That Me and Shorty Built
FC 11 S-49
64
Red Steagall
He was There
The sun was creeping 'cross the rise.
Back at the Ranch
FC 11 S-29
27
Colen H. Sweeten Jr.
Genuine Leather
It was a half-page ad in the paper
Poet of the Big Horns
FC 11 R-15
43
Don Rowland
"Trail's End"
"Trail's End," "Goodbye,"--
Black
FC 11 D-17
13
John C. Dofflemyer
Cowboy Politics
Cowboy politics once were ploys to finagle a Saturday afternoon or Sunday off to be veteod anytime by weather or work.
Blood Writing
Sean Sexton
FOLK COLL 11 S-75
55
Sean Sexton
By Which Sin?
By which sin did she perish, hen of golden feathers, decapitated, and hanging in the fence, just outside the pen this morning?
chicken, distraction, fox
After the Chisholm
FC 11 R-45
149
George Rhoades
Symbols
How amazing for humans That one thing can stand For something else. A symbol can mean Whatever the mind conceives; Words, pictures, sounds, gestures,
plan, love, hate, communicate, experiences
Signature of the Sun: Southwest Verse, 1900-1950
Mabel Major and T.M. Pearce
FC 11 M-02
217
Witter Bynner
Dead in the Philippines
Dead in the Philippines are they?