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
Outdoors, Faith, Fun and Other Poems
FC 11 B-02
8
Elliott S. Barker
First Snow
Last night we watched when it began to snow, Big flakes as though by fairies wafted down; So quietly from clouds to earth below, To spread a blanket white atop our town.
snow, winter, first snow
Saddle Up And R-i-i-i-d-e More Cowboy Poetry
FC 11 R-40
30
Jim Ross
On A Whim
Modern bunkhousees nowadays Have jalopies parked far and near; They don't only dim the landscape, They clutter up the atmosphere.
Rawhide Rhymes
FC 11 B-05
30
S. Omar Barker
Thanksgiving Argument
About this here Thanksgiving there are two opposin' views.
disagreement, Pop McIntyre, Smoky Hughes, cowpoke, debate, pros and cons, work, sweat, gratitude, good luck, blessing, blessings, buckaroo, turkey, God, Lord, thankful
Sawdust & Shavin's
FC 11 S-11
68
Shep Smith
Bulletin No. 56--No B.S. or A Shoe for You and a Shoe for Me--Mine Fits How About Thee??
When the classroom doors slammed shut behind us
Western Poetry: In this land of little rain
FC 11 M-56
35
Jane Ambrose Morton
Those who came before
Dad named his pastures after those who owned land we acquired. Their names lived on for years and years, long after sales tra
Ballads of the Black Hills
FC 11 G-11
72
Charles P. "Soldier" Green
Old Time Dance
McCarty gave an old time dance.
dance, square dance, social
Rhymes Along the Way
FC 11 L-39
58
Robert L. Laumeyer
Can You Cope?
If you worry about tomorrow and you wonder how will you cope, think back to your yesteryears when you filled your life with hope. As fast as the world changes it sure seems very strange the main component of your being
Dry Crik Review (Environmental Issue): Fall 1991
John C. Dofflemyer
FC 11 D-20
48
Greg Keeler
Breakfast At The New World Cafe
Last night I dreamed I lost my cowboy hat in the ion storms of Neptune which is odd because I gave up my cowboy hat for a baseball cap years ago, and I'm not sure what an ion is.
foothills, reverse, snow, blanket, hell, rightful
Where Cattle Roam
FC 11 S-15
56
Al Summers
Around the Wagon Fire
Shorty's fetched his mouth harp out
Songs of the Trail
FC 11 K-08
69
Henry Herbert Knibbs
The Long Road West
Slabs of the Sunburnt West
FC 11 S-01
29
Carl Sandburg
Sea Slant
On up the sea slant
Coming Out Of The Cowboy Closet (Cowboy Poetry, Pictures, and Other Stuff)
FC 11 C-56
24
D.L. Chance
Mink Ranching
I bought the wife a new coat last fall and I made a pretty good purchase, I think.
Confessions of A Cowboy Poet
FC 11 C-52
28
Bob Christensen
The Bargain
In old Dodge City, Kansas before the century turned there's a very simple lesson that all the cowboys learned. If you come to town a packin' then stay south of the tracks
Ever and Always I Shall Love the Land
FC 11 G-01
72
Clell Goebel Gannon
The Lost Song
Oh, I left the town with its bloody fights.
wine, women, liquor, sin, beauty
Sky Humour
Sid Marty
FOLK COLL 11 M-68
55
Sid Marty
At the Breaking of Drought
Steam rises from the mud The wind has banked two months of heat into this cracked clay
rain, dust, drought
Ballads of the Book Cliffs
Frank A. Brewer and Frances Brewer Steiner
FC 11 B-18
48
Frank A. Brewer
To a Sunbeam
The days are dark and dreary, I'm lonely and feeling blue.
sunbeam, sunlight, sadness, loneliness, God, belief, light, gratitude
Cowboy poetry and passel of western paintings
FC 11 H-49
18
Jake Holster
My mules
I have rode a lot of mean horses and trained them. Mules, I had little to do with any of them
Poems of American Cowboys & Nature
FC 11 C-04
82
Bob A. Carson
Back Home
I'll be glad to be home again.
Wild Prairie Roses: A Collection of Verse by North Dakotans
Shirley J. Mikkelson
FC 11 M-11
86
Darwin A. Bullinger
Night of the owl
It's a cold dark night on the prairie
night, wind, death, fearful, darkness, fodder, corncrib, prairie, dying, crying, light, sadly, lovely face, tree, river, world, foolish, chances.
Riding the Range With Floyd
FC 11 O-09
38
Floyd Oyhus
Animal Lovers
Well I'm a fellow that's not too old, Not really bad lookin' and not any too bold. But when I ask girls why we shouldn't be wed, There's always some critter that has to be fed.
Some Stuff I've Learnt And Other Stuff
FC 11 H-61
166
Greg Harwood
Twas Just A Few Days Before Christmas
Twas a few days before Christmas
Christmas break, snack, presents
An Ol' Cowboy Still Remembers?and Other Cowboy Poems
FC 11 E-12
45
Glen Enloe
Gimpy O'Kee
I'm Gimpy O'Kee from west Tennessee -- Don't tolerate no politics correct.
Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory
FC 11 G-44
11
DW Groethe
5 a.m.
Sun trickles through ash and box elder, drops a glint of my cup rim and rouses shadows, from their night's rest, to the day's drifting.
More Horsin' Around
FC 11 C-54
26
Stu Campbell
A Real Cowboy
Prose: When I was goin' to college, I took a couple of colts to break so I could earn some extra money an' help out with the expenses. I was gettin' a dollar a day to ride these colts an' I figured it was worth it just to be able to get away from the books for a while
Cowboy Curmudgeon and Other Poems
FC 11 M-45
109
Wallace McRae
Handy Harry
You've know guys like Harry, so handy they're scary.