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
Sawdust & Shavin's
FC 11 S-11
46
Shep Smith
Economy Car
Jungle Jim worries a lot about economy
Time Not Measured by a Clock: Cowboy Poetry from the life of a Cowboy Wife
FC 11 J-14
73
Carole Jarvis
Water, Cows, and Grass
It's water, cows, and grass.
rancher, dreams, cattle, ponds, draw
Sharing the Journey
FC 11 R-30
24
Norman Edward Rourke
Sheriff Babcock
Chaves County sheriff.
Easterner, Pecos Valley, star, six-gun, Roswell, New Mexico, West, protected
The Song of the Hunter
FC 11 K-30
52
Robert L. Laumeyer
Did God Need a Laugh?
Did God need a luagh, when he made man? Did he turn him loose, or was there a plan? Is there a ? What is each actor's part? Is each to improvise the beste he can? Was God really serious, or did he jest?
Time Not Measured by a Clock: Cowboy Poetry from the life of a Cowboy Wife
FC 11 J-14
159
Dan Jarvis
Two Old Punchers and The Bear
We got up that mornin' before the sun was up.
punchers, bulls, corral, dogs, ranges, pard, beast, bear, rope, lariat, Charlie
Write 'Em Cowboy
FC 11 G-43
85
Peggy Godfrey
Today's Troubadour
What is the role of cowboy poets among their ranching peers? Will their place be honored in another hundred years? They celebrate diversity in seasonal ranching lives weaving its hardship and pleasure 'til my flagging spirit revives.
The Lowly cowchip: and other pungent poetry
FC 11 W-31
30
Merrily Wright
A dentist's request
Dear Merrily, You might think this request is strange but I thought yo could help living there on the range.
Cowboy Poetry: Classic Rhymes by S. Omar Barker (1894-1985)
Jodie and Bob Phillips
FC 11 B-44
34
S. Omar Barker
Hunted Men
A cowboy rode up on his bald-faced pony.
Cowboy and Other Poetry: Thoughts by Men Who Have Mashed Their Fingers
FC 11 T-16
1
Jim Tanner
Texas
Now I'm not saying Texas.
Muddled Meanderings in an Outhouse
FC 11 R-11
59
Bob Ross
More Muddled Meanderings
As my mind meanders out here in the shed
On the Edge of Common Sense
FC 11 B-12
118
Baxter Black
Longhorns - not a poem
Brushstrokes & Balladeers: Painters and Poets of the American West
C.J. Hadley
FC 11 H-60
116
Carolyn Dufurrena
Early Turnout to a Dry Spring
All the promise of the new season withers in sullen gray clouds that refuse to share their moisture. we raise our eyes to the north, scan skies for a promise of rain,
hollow, dust, grass, ridge
Cowboy Poetry from Utah
Carol A. Edison
FC 11 E-06
60
Frances Brewer Steiner
Roundup Time on the Mountain
Each fall they rode the summer range to gather up the steers.
meat, cattle, beef, sharing, roundup, food
End o' the Trail
FC 11 P-07
18
Guy Parker
Just Arrived
Drink this milk you little sinner
calf
Those Drift'n Cowboy Ways
FC 11 P-35
20
Chuck Prentiss
Quiet Tough
I've had fellers tell me, about what they knew How tough they was, and all they could do With most anything, they was close to the best but they didn't show much, when put to the test
The Trouble with Dreams
FC 11 Q-01
40
Vess Quinlan
Idiom
It is language of the past, a tongue of another time as strange, perhaps, as the talk of bytes and chips, RAMs, and Ks of memory . . . the language of the Percheron.
Cowboy Poetry: Classic Rhymes by Bruce Kiskaddon (1878-1950)
Mason and Janice Coggin
FC 11 K-21
47
Bruce Kiskaddon
The Cowboys Christmas Dance
Winter is here and it aint so nice tendin' the feeders and choppin' ice.
Pull Up a Chair: Cowboy Poetry
FC 11 R-22
51
Jim Ross
A Dog's Best Friend
Gary came to throw some bull,
Lyrics of the Lariat
FC 11 G-10
23
Nathan Kirk Griggs
Passion Flowers
Love's many strange moods are blossoms of passion.
will, love, reason, Cupid
Rhymes of the Ranges: A New Collection of the Poems of Bruce Kiskaddon
Hal Cannon
FC 11 K-12
53
Bruce Kiskaddon
The Ghosts at the Diamond Bar
'Twas a winter night at the Diamond Bar, The wind was blowin' cold.
75 Years! My Time In Rhyme
FC 11 M-65
138
E.W. "Roy" Miller
Two Different Happenings
Nine-Eleven was a terrible event, We all would like to forget! Thousands killed, hurt, or crippled for life. Unpleasant memories galore and yet. Our thought go back continuously to those, Who willingly gave up their lives! Trying to save those covered by debris, the husbands, their children, their wives!
Poems of American Cowboys & Nature
FC 11 C-04
13
Bob A. Carson
Cowboys
The cowboys they come and go.
adoration
One Hundred Poems
Waddie Mitchell
FOLK COLL 11 M-73
142
Waddie Mitchell
Experience of Life
I used to wonder why it'd take so many scars for us to learn It seems we can't relate to hot, until our fingers have been burned But, like cream destined to be butter, first, we have to take a turn Through that churn we call experiencing life
life, experience, goals
Night Herding Song
FC 11 H-10
38
Gerald Hausman
Bone Sermon
Take a bone.
bones, shell, shells
Ranch Reveries
FC 11 H-21
29
Oscar Herem
Home, Sweet Home
My friends, today we have a man.
home, Spokane, Washington, welcome, friends, homesick, longing