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 'n' Things
FC 11 H-18
48
Fred Hardy
The Blizzard
The snow it was a comin a comin mighty hard.
storm, winter, livestock, sheep, horses, snow drift, buried
Rhymes on the Range
Mike Puhallo, Brian Brannon & Wendy Liddle
FC 11 P-26
59
Mike Puhallo
Kenny Mclean
I was Falklands Stampede 1960.
Poetic Works of Henry Lawson
David McKee Wright
FC 11 L-24
43
Henry Lawson
Ballad of the Rouseabout
A rouseabout of rouseabouts, from any land or home.
Bunkhouse Ballads
FC 11 C-15
24
Marcus Crowley
Men from Texas
Have you ever noticed.
names, land, areas, statement
I'd Make an Awful Pioneer
FC 11 J-12
1
Reed C. Jensen
About the Author
When writing cowboy poetry I feel a tinge of remorse, because I weigh 250 pounds I feel sorry for my horse.
Dry Crik Rview: Spring 1992
John C. Dofflemyer
FC 11 D-20
38
Joe Greig
Booge
This ranch hand strode into the room at the end of a long hard day, where we were waitin' supper and a chance to draw our pay. His hair was long
destiny, voice, tame, technique
Bruce Kiskaddon Calendar Poems: 1951/2001
FC 11 K-20
5
Bruce Kiskaddon
When He Pulls Away
A hoss is aggravatin' if he learns to pull away.
Cowboy Poetry: Classic Rhymes by S. Omar Barker (1894-1985)
Jodie and Bob Phillips
FC 11 B-44
33
S. Omar Barker
Horse Corral Etiquette
There's two kinds of jaspers, most cowboys agree; The would purty near like to see hung.
At the Church House
FC 11 J-22
1
Billy James
Do Cowboys Pray?
Well, I don't know them fancy words that's sweet, and nice and grand; But out here on the range I know I see the Master's hand.
Western Poetry: In this land of Little Rain
FC 11 M-56
88
Jane Ambrose Morton
Spirit of Christmas
I found many items while shoopping the mall, but what I most wanted was nowhere at all
Horseshoes, Cowsocks & Duckfeet
FC 11 B-47
1
Baxter Black
Cajun Dance
"Deez gurls ken dance."
Prairie Vagabonds
FC 11 H-04
60
Laura Vernon Hamner
Romany Road Through Texas
A lover of peace am I, yet I've fashioned tools to kill.
caravan, gypsy, travel
Poems from the Alamo Saloon
FOLK COLL 11 L-45
247
Paul Thomas Lillard
Short Round II
In the land of Panama a canal we used to own, but old Carter gave it away - another asset blown.
canal, panama, purchase
Open Range: Poetry of the Reimagined West
Laurie Wagner Buyer & WC Jameson
FC 11 W-30
58
Los Zopilotes
We had ridden over a mile from the battlefield, heartbeats and breath only just beginning to slow. Sweat streamed down faces, arms, legs, torsos, clothes smelled like gunsmoke, bodies atremble with victory.
Musings from Cowboy Country
FOLK COLL 11 R-46
49
George Rhoades
GPS Devices on Cows?
They're puttin' GPS devices In the eartags of cows
modern, cows, tracking
Where Cattle Roam
FC 11 S-15
41
Al Summers
Runnin' Mustangs
The sun has cleared that yonder peak
Western Poems
FC 11 K-03
37
Bruce Kiskaddon
All Dressed Up
Things is pickin' up as most folks knows.
clothes, clothing, dress, Stetson, hat, protection
Hidden Trails
FC 11 C-21
3
Austin Corcoran
Mortimer Post
Mortimer Post was a walking ghost.
gambling
Trail Dust of a Maverick
FC 11 B-15
231
E.A. Brininstool
A Cowpunch Courtship
She got me clean stampeded.
courtship, flirt, girlfriend, love, lovesick, love triangle, married woman, two-timing, betrayal, affair
Cowboy Poetry: Tracks That Won't Blow Out
FC 11 O-10
16
Ray Owens
Color Blind
We were sittin', tlakin' horses; my old friend and I that day Enjoyin' one another's comp'ny an' just passin time away
Cowboy Lyrics
FC 11 C-03
160
Robert V. Carr
The Rattlesnake
O'er sun-baked plains he winds his way.
snake, rattlesnake
Rhymes of the Range Land
FC 11 J-04
24
Bob Johnston
The Cowboy Cook
He was old as cowboys go, maybe forty or so.
aging, temperament, contentedness, cooking, danger
Old Stories
FC 11 K-26
5
Jo Lynne Kirkwood
Forget-me-not
He was a fighter and a gambler, he was bound to end up dead, And he would lead her straight to heartbreak, or so her father said.
Cowboy Poems and Outright Lies
FC 11 S-44
26
Hal Swift
When the Hired Hands All Quit
One time I had friends who was workin' a ranch.
Slow Smoke
FC 11 S-02
65
Lew Sarett
Spotted-Face, the Tribal Fool, Prays
Give me the legs and sinews of the moose,