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
Brush Poppers: Original Cowboy Poetry
FC 11 P-38
60
Dale Page
Lodgepole Lullaby
Like a song without music or lyrics, Or a verse without meter or rhymes, Comes the wind through the tops of the lodgepoles
Linnet Maxey, Box Elder, frontier, dream, promise
Laughing with Layle: Knothead Poetry, Recipes and Such
FC 11 B-31
17
Layle Bagley
Pokey
Now this is quite a story, and I guess its based on fact.
Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields
FC 11 H-56
55
Linda Hussa
Gentleman
Pa came in from doin' morning chores. The chicken house door was open and all the hens were gone. He looked until
pay, hens, poor, old lady
Songs of the American West
Richard E. Lingenfelter, Richard A. Dwyer and David Cohen
FC 11 L-10
538
Woody Guthrie
Hard Travelin'
I been havin' some hard travelin', I thought you knowed.
Songs of the American West
Richard E. Lingenfelter, Richard A. Dwyer and David Cohen
FC 11 L-10
41
John P. Grantham
O if I was at Home Again
In Mt. Pleasant I once did live and had a happy home.
Ride For the Brand
FC 11 S-53
47
Red Steagall
Horses and Wars
Now the cow camp is busy.
longhorns
Steering With My Knees
Paul Zarzyski
FOLK COLL 11 Z-5
178
Paul Zarzyski
Zarzyski Cures the Burning of His Bro, Zozobra, "Old Man Gloom"
With his red-hot grimace of teeth glowing like a blast furnace grate, with lunacy blazing in his pizza-pan pupils,
disaster, burn, fire
Cowgirls: Women of the American West
FC 11 J-11
117
Teresa Jordan
Mildred Kanipe
Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields
FC 11 H-56
133
Linda Hussa
Love Letters
Wow! was written in the dust on the bedside table. The dawn and I blushed together as your spurs chinged around the kitchen as you started the fire.
wow, written
Outdoors, Faith, Fun and Other Poems
FC 11 B-02
19
Elliott S. Barker
Creation
When God wed Mother Nature to Old Father Time, Untold millions of years ago, He decreed they should toil, for conditions were prime, To develop the world we know.
creation, Adam and Eve, religion
Meadow Muffins: Cowboy Rhymes and Other B.S.
FC 11 P-29
32
W.H. Stewart
Kaleidoscope of Time
I wandered to a mountain top some fifty years ago.
West River Waltz: Western Poetry
FC 11 G-31
44
D. W. Groethe
When the Old Man Goes (A poem for two voices)
And the earth thrummed.
Rodeo Fever: A Collection of Poems Capturing the Spirit of Rodeo
FC 11 R-01
36
Tom Raley
Rules
Sure there's rules.
The Humbler Poets: A Collection of Newspaper and Periodical Verse, 1870-1885
Slason Thompson
FC 11 T-04
263
author unknown
As Pebbles in the Sea
Who shall judge man from his manner,
Ol' Mike's Philosophy and Foolishness
Mike Oatman
FOLK COLL 11 O-14
115
Edgar A. Guest
An Aunt
I hold no quarrel with the world o'er which our lives are spanned; The more I see its way unfurled I find things wisely planned.
family, aunt, help
New Mexico in Verse
William Felter and John L. McCarty
FC 11 F-01
46
Fred M. Griffin
Recollections of an Old Timer
As I laze aroun' in the sunshine.
memories, heaven, afterlife
The Adventures of Ole and Andy
FOLK COLL 11 A-26
35
Clarence "Andy" Anderson
Ole Catches A Big Fish
Everybody likes to catch a fish, especially a big one. And I am no exception. I noticed that Ole invariably brought home the biggest fish, so I asked him how he managed to be so lucky.
fish, fishing, lie, bull
Saddle Up And R-i-i-i-d-e More Cowboy Poetry
FC 11 R-40
42
Jim Ross
One More Request, Oh Lord
Guess it's time I started sayin' What's been on my mind a while; Just how grateful I am to You For my long life and for its style.
Tracks in the sand: original cowboy poetry
FC 11 W-36
13
Perry L. Williams
Toppin' out
I've topped another mountain looked down on the valley below.
Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin'
Virginia Bennett
FC 11 B-69
148
Elizabeth Ebert
Cowboy Courtin' Time
When Romen went courtin' He climbed a balcony, And some men serenade you Upon their bended knee.
Dry Crik Rview: Spring 1992
John C. Dofflemyer
FC 11 D-20
37
Jim Hammons
Practicality
"If he humps up to buck, step down and kick him in the belly." Were the rancher's word to the green cowboy on a cold morning words neither cruel or kind,
motivated, survive, waste energy, broken hand
Corral Dust
FC 11 F-05
11
Bob Fletcher
The Desert Rat
Sure we've been out on the desert.
desert, burro, attraction, travel, wander, sand, mirage, Nevada
Bell-Bottoms to Boots
FC 11 W-07
47
Joe "Blackie" Wilson
Bragging Back (A Letter)
You write of all your successes
An Ol' Cowboy Still Remembers?and Other Cowboy Poems
FC 11 E-12
26
Glen Enloe
A Boy That Ain't Got No Quit
He'd been throwed off some of the best, Stomped down in the mud and spit.
Trail's End
FC 11 U-01
12
John Curtis Underwood
The Plaza
Motors weave their mazes around it