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
Poems from the Alamo Saloon
FOLK COLL 11 L-45
62
Paul Thomas Lillard
God's Little Joke
If you think the Creator lacked a sense of humor, had to twinkle in his eye, then may I call your attention to the platy-pi.
platypus, joke, god, creation
Rhymes o' a Driftin' Cowboy
FC 11 H-01
81
Chuck Haas
Zip
We's sot around th' fire one cold sleety day.
zipper, zippers, levis, jeans, pants
Coming Out Of The Cowboy Closet (Cowboy Poetry, Pictures, and Other Stuff)
FC 11 C-56
7
D.L. Chance
Dressed For The Dance
These three cowboys took out walking to a dance on Saturday night. There was a big full moon shining out overhead so they had plenty of moonlight.
Scattered, Lasting Remnants: "Fine Lines" of Poetry and Song
Echo Klaproth
FC 11 K-25
102
Dan Jarvis
Cause I've known the freedom few others know, livin' my life in the real cowboy way. (from "Thumbin' Back").
Songs of the American West
Richard E. Lingenfelter, Richard A. Dwyer and David Cohen
FC 11 L-10
460
John A. Dean
Nebraska Land
We're in a land of drouth and heat.
winds, soil, Gabriel, starvation, poor
I Am Not A Cowboy
FC 11 Z-04
24
Paul Zarzyski
Blankets
Tired of writing colorless whiteman poetry near the earth stove turning old fence posts into ash as fast as I can feed them, I bank the fire for the night
bedroom, crack, dreams, chiefs, Montana, Marianne Kapoun, Robert Kapoun
More Rhymes of a Ranch Hand
FC 11 L-06
29
Frank D. Lemon
Rock Hound Fever
There's some painted hill a callin'.
Rawhide Rhymes
FC 11 B-05
117
S. Omar Barker
Vocal Rawhide
You ask me "What's a cowboy yell?" I've heard a few, of course.
outburst, liveliness, vitality, excitement, bawl, holler, mellow, hoarse, mood, feeling, tonsils, sound, Yippee, Wa-Hoo, bellow, squall, roar, tough throat, whooping, cactus, western land, yodel, mating song, ring-tailed wowser music, lonesome, coyote howls, prairie owl, soprano, longhorn bull, April, moon, whiskey-tenor, eardrums, wild sounds, train whistle, human sounds, animal sounds, description of sounds
Western Poems
FC 11 K-03
47
Bruce Kiskaddon
Wet Boots
A cowboy goes under a turrible strain.
rain, boots, shoes, clothing, knife, cut, cutting, tightness, tight
Write 'Em Cowboy
FC 11 G-43
62
Peggy Godfrey
Team Calving
Bod and I were riding heifers in the early morning cold tagging sluggish baby calves less than one day old. Looking out for heavies having trouble giving birth a job that comes with cattle no matter what they're worth. We eased up on a heifer
Graining the Mare: The Poetry of Ranch Women
Teresa Jordan
FC 11 J-10
88
Linda Hussa
Homesteaders, Poor and Dry
The world was bone dry.
Poetry of Ranch Women
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
Western Travels and Other Rhymes
FC 11 G-27
58
Lysius Gough
Different Occupations
Some people fool around and spend their time at leisure.
plow, weaver, granaries, neighbors, friends, hunt, discoveries
Confessions of A Cowboy Poet
FC 11 C-52
71
Bob Christensen
A Fowl Affair
The blue ribbon he wore proudly, "CHAMPION, BEST OF SHOW," it read. And he strutted, crowing loudly all around the pickup bed. Then he perched high on the stock rack, ribbon blowing in the breeze
Newest Poems: Western Poems
FC 11 R-25
22
Carl "Skinny" Rowland
Convincing Collateral
Now the rancher had a notion, that it was time now to expand,
Trail's End
FC 11 U-01
33
John Curtis Underwood
The Old Bells
Two old bells hanging in a garden back of the Sisters' Sanitarium,
Saddle Bag Wit and Wisdom
FC 11 T-17
42
Dave Tingey
Calf Ropers Lament
I went off to calf roping school, so I could learn to do it right.
Reflections of the West: Cowboy painters and poets
C.J. Hadley
FC 11 H-59
106
Deanna Dickinson McCall
Advice
The corrals were full enough to bust, and we'd all had our share of dust. But, we'd got all the pairs in and the separating was about to begin.
discriminate, fear, angry, life
Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas
Jim Hoy
FOLK COLL 11 H-62
135
Steven Hind
The Gal in the Batwing Chaps
I'd lost a few, won even fewer, Down and out with a foot in the sewer, So I thought I'd return to my home true roots In my snap-button shirt and my snakeskin boots.
heartsick, love, attraction
Cowboy Poetry: Classic Rhymes by Henry Herbert Knibbs
Mason and Janice Coggin
FC 11 K-23
185
Henry Herbert Knibbs
The Desert
'Twas the lean coyote told me, baring his slavish soul.
Cowboy Poetry: Classic Rhymes by S. Omar Barker (1894-1985)
Jodie and Bob Phillips
FC 11 B-44
192
S. Omar Barker
Cowpen Moo-Sic
They asked me: "What's a beller?"
Best Loved Poems of the American West
John J. and Barbara T. Gregg
FC 11 G-09
103
Reuben M. Potter
Hymn of the Alamo
Rise, man the wall, our clarion's blast.
reveille, fight, battle, freedom, Thermopylae
Rimrock and Juniper
FC 11 K-31
67
E.J. Kirchoff
Domestic Harmony
The talk in Wilbur's stable always covers cow and horse. The government and politcs. And weather now, of course. We also comment on the nes and weighty world affairs. And also blessings of the world as well as of its cares.
Where Cattle Roam
FC 11 S-15
101
Al Summers
Just Ridin'
I'm tired of town, it's got me down
What I Learned On the Way to Life: Insights and Concepts learned along the way..
FC 11 J-15
33
Hans "Jake" Jeppson
Feathered Wings Above the Smoke
Long ago I ran, reaching out, trying to catch the smoke.