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
Counting the Aerie Escalator's Steps: Bald Mountain Poems Winter 80/81
FC 11 P-06
1
Scott Preston
Cold Springs 12/16/80
Rattleshack top of cold springs lift, jet
"Pull Your Hat Down and Come-a-Ridin'!": Photos and Ridin' Rhymes
FC 11 K-14
22
Gayle S. Klein
Willin' to Practice!
Finally we're unloadin' my ropin' horse for my run; Has been a long drive 'neath the hot summer sun.
Poems of American Cowboys & Nature
FC 11 C-04
59
Bob A. Carson
Fight On, Brave Heart, Fight On
Fight onward to the breach, brave heart.
Ruby Mountain Rhymes
FC 11 W-09
4
Jack Walther
My Neighbor
Over fifty years I have known her, the best neighbor and good friend.
Unhobbled: Cowboy Poetry, Stories, and Outright Lies
FC 11 R-31
26
Pat Richardson
Missing Person
Maverick Western Verse
John C. Dofflemyer
FC 11 D-09
22
Ron Chappell
Kings, Tonight
The stove glows red in the herders tent.
Songs of the Workaday World
FC 11 B-54
143
Berton Braley
Bohemia
I'm looking for Bohemia, Where hearts are ever kind,
Heaven on Horseback
Austin and Alta Fife
FC 11 F-13
86
A Cowboy at Church
Some time ago, two weeks or more, if I remember well.
Cowboy Poetry: Rhymes, Reasons, and Pack Saddle Proverbs by Chris Isaacs
Janice Coggins
FC 11 I-02
185
Chis Isaacs
Fred
My heroes have always been cowboys.
The Big Roundup: Classic and Contemporary Poetry from CowboyPoetry.com
Margo Metegrano
FC 11 M-47
29
Rose Mary Allmendinger
When the Old Yella Bus Comes Down the Lane
The ol' school bus was painted yella.
Ranch Verses
FC 11 C-09
39
William Lawrence Chittenden
A Summer Girl
She was queen of the hotel veranda.
attraction, beauty, charm, romance, broken heart
All This Way for the Short Ride
FC 11 Z-02
74
Paul Zarzyski
Pegasus, She Ain't
Easy-keeper; grass-bellied and grained.
Songs of the Trail
FC 11 K-08
53
Henry Herbert Knibbs
Enchanted Isles
A Rancher's Writings
FC 11 S-07
46
Harold D. Sloan
Your Golden Wedding Day
From that little church you started --
The Code Of The West - Then, Now, Forever -
FC 11 B-68
17
Don Bishop
The Supply Station
Red River and Doan's store were supply stations on the Red River. Each was also a saloon and post office.
Cow Trails and Cowboy Tales
FC 11 A-18
3
Gary Anderson
Dad Young
Now my old Grandpa used to sit, In the house in his rocking chair. Chewing tobacco and spitting in a can,
Blossoms Beneath the Snow (A Tribute to the Pioneer Ranchwomen)
FC 11 H-34
40
Yvonne Hollenbeck
A Tribute to Jake
It was just a simple funeral.
The Best of Robert Service
FOLK COLL 11 S-77
23
Robert Service
The Men That Don't Fit In
There's a race of men that don't fit in, A race that can't stay still; So they break the hearts of kith and kin, And they roam the world at will.
wanderlust, travel, carelessness
Cattle, Horses, Sky, and Grass
Warren Miller
FC 11 C-35
25
Jesse Smith
Air'd Out
I was ridin' this little sorrel horse.
Cowboy Poultry Gatherin'
FOLK COLL 11 A-23
81
Darrell Arnold
The Great Debate
Ol' Skinner Joe liked mules, you know. He wouldn't own a horse. The only way he'd work or play was on a mule, or course. And nothing you could say or do, no ploy of any kind Would make him flinch or budge an inch, or change his stubborn mind.
mule, horse, debate
Verse for Aussie Children
Carmel Randle
FC 11 R-27
85
Bob Miller
Gone the Forest!
Rainforest wonder cherished by man --
Regarding the Others
FOLK COLL 11 E-24
13
Maria Lisa Eastman
You can Lead a Horse to Water but You Can't Make him Drink
You can't smell the lion crouched above the sweet, cold spring. You don't hear him cough a quiet whiff of death.
danger, patience, alert
Cowboy Poetry from Utah
Carol A. Edison
FC 11 E-06
58
Frances B. Steiner
The One That Got Away
For years Dad lived on Bitter Creek.
father, accident, trapped, leg, boot, horse, fall, pinned, caught, foot, survival
Rhyme Doesn't Pay -- But Neither Does Cowboying
FC 11 B-46
25
Ed B. Brown
Cowboy Saddles
A cowboy's saddle's judged three ways.
Catching It Whole: A First Collection of Poems
FC 11 P-02
28
R.J. Petrillo
There is room enough
There is room enough in summer fields for walking among the waist high rows