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
Buck Ramsey's Poetry Inventory
Buck Ramsey
FOLK COLL 11 R-48
139
Buck Ramsey
Season Song
If I'd go back Then back I'd go On caroled air On season snow.
season, walk, bells
Cowboy Poetry Matters: From Abilene to the Mainstream: Contemporary Cowboy Writ.
Robert McDowell
FC 11 M-54
181
Paul Zarzyski
One Sweet Evening Just This Year (for Ralph Beer and Wallace McRae)
Sundown rolling up its sofest nap of autumn light over the foothills, grass bales stacked two tiers above the '68 Ford's cab
Along Old Trails: Poems of New Mexico and Arizona
FC 11 S-06
88
William Haskell Simpson
For the Dear Dead
For the dear dead, room!
The Poetry of 'Breaker' Morant
FC 11 M-58
14
Harry 'Breaker' Harbord Morant
While Yet We May
Ancient, wrinkled dames and jealous-- They whom joyless Age downcasts-- And the sere, gray-bearded fellows Who would fain re-live their pasts
Trail's End
FC 11 U-01
31
John Curtis Underwood
The Studio
There is a great gray north window and a big redbrick open fire place.
Golden Thoughts of Arizona Poems, Legends, and Ballads
FC 11 T-03
2
Gene Taylor
Phoenix
Phoenix was named (or maybe you have heard),
Tracks Along the Trail
FOLK COLL 11 H-63
13
Bob Huff
Eye of the Beholder
The bald eagle soared around in the sky And watched the lone cowboy slowly ride by. "If I could stretch my wings to 25 feet, The critter under the black hat would be a real treat.
food, hunger, animals
Rattle: Poetry for the 21st Century (Winter 2008)
Alan Fox
FC 11 R-36
14
Chris Anderson
Reality Homes
Just Thinkin'
FC 11 S-17
8
Georgie Connell Sicking
To be a Top Hand
When I was a kid and doing my best to
Muses Of The Ranges
FC 11 D-28
46
John C. Dofflemyer
Christmas List 1990
If Santa read my list, a single word, and has the time to spare on christmas eve and runs across some storms thet he can herd-I'll be the first to say thet I believe!
improve, entertain, steady, rain, soak, elves, reindeer
Waiting for the Pear to Fall
FOLK COLL 11 D-29
34
Richard M Dunalp
Weaning Time
The Fall of the year's upon us now, And it's time to make a decision. It's time to get rid of some of those calves, If we plan on making a living.
calves, winter, wean, noise
Trail Dust of a Maverick
FC 11 B-15
35
E.A. Brininstool
A Prairie Mother's Lullaby
The sunset deepens in the west.
child, love, sing, song, baby, night, evening, daddy, dad, father, mom, family, husband, wife, mother
A Rancher's Writings
FC 11 S-07
83
Harold D. Sloan
The Road of Yesterday
The old road was rough and crooked
Rhymes of the Ranges
FC 11 K-04
150
Bruce Kiskaddon
Swimmin' the Herd
The river is up, but then the boss.
water, swimming, bravery, cattle, herd, wagon, rivers
Cowboy Poetry: Classic Rhymes by Henry Herbert Knibbs
Mason and Janice Coggin
FC 11 K-23
52
Henry Herbert Knibbs
That was Maw
Her name was Martha Bailey, she was smilin', plump, and strong.
Whiff of the West
FC 11 W-06
33
Milo Wiltbank
From the Hand of God
Just a picture etched in sunlight
West of East
FC 11 H-17
101
Harry Elmore Hurd
An Armistice Dispatch
A maple flung a leaf at me.
dispatch, leaves, autumn, death, war, France, WW I, soldiers, battlefield
Tangled Up In The West
FC 11 H-50
11
David Haskell
Watsonville
At Boss Farms, the amigos give Ruben a beer. To tell them the story, they always love to hear. How he caught a "Chevy" with the big John Deere.
Rhymes o' a Driftin' Cowboy
FC 11 H-01
216
Chuck Haas
`Neath' Hide
Dam' well I mind forkin' my first Brahma bull.
bull riding
The Song of the Hunter
FC 11 L-40
72
Robert L. Laumeyer
My Wife and I in the Days of Yore
My mind wanders back To when we were young. The first verse just started A whole song yet to be sung. Life was very different then On the dry Montana Plains. A life style that is gone now
Time Not Measured by a Clock: Cowboy Poetry from the life of a Cowboy Wife
FC 11 J-14
156
Dan Jarvis
Long of Tooth
When I was young and in my prime.
work, fence, bogs, corral, dogs, flank calves, hay, dig postholes, plow, punchers, relax
Rhymes o' a Driftin' Cowboy
FC 11 H-01
70
Chuck Haas
Fate?
I figger fate will, soon er late.
herd, herding, attack, cattle, horned, gored
Best Loved Poems of the American West
John J. and Barbara T. Gregg
FC 11 G-09
19
Frank French
Idaho
They say there is a land.
idyllic land, fortune, gold
An Ol' Cowboy Still Remembers?and Other Cowboy Poems
FC 11 E-12
51
Glen Enloe
They'll Never be a Last Cowboy
They'll never be a last cowboy; As long as there's still some ole cows.
Ride The Silence
FC 11 H-58
21
Linda Hussa
Angels Of The Soft Breeze Of Purification
In her tree they set to sleep not as omen not as blight and when morning lights her window she sees dark silk fans stand on limbs -a tree of sunning moths.
Sophie, Turkey Vulture, Cathartes Aura, love, young, flight