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
Dry Crik Rview: Summer-Fall 1993
John C. Dofflemyer
FC 11 D-20
38
Jim Dewitt
The Highlight
of Swamp Holler's Saturday night.. they never did break Jed's habit of swigging directly from a raised up keg, so naturally some cornlikker foam would be breathed for choking on and sure as hassenpfeffer
gang, clog, unique
Original Cowboy Poetry
FC 11 S-25
103
Colen H. Sweeten Jr.
Raisins
I ain't a praisin' no raisin,
Dry Crik Review (Elko Commemorative Double Issue): winter/spring 1994, 2 copies
John C. Dofflemyer
FC 11 D-20
51
Peggy Godfrey
Elko Reflections
The pain of parting On Sunday At Elko Is like the drag Of barbed wire Across my hand.
Holaday and Hampton Poetry
Hampton Livestock Commission Co.
FC 11 H-39
12
The Holaday & Hampton Poet (Bruce Kiskaddon)
Tailin' 'Em Up
It's a sorter surprise when a old cow gits down. Fer she doesn't look like she would weigh twenty pound.
Loose Cow Party
FC 11 B-67
52
Baxter Black
Santy's Emission Sticker
The word came down last Christmas that Santy was not in compliance. His mode of transportation fell far short of the standards of science.
Give My Love to Children - Horses - A Collection of Stories and Poems
FC 11 J-07
41
Hans Jacob Jeppson
Young Love 'n Heifers n' Stuff
The summer sun beat down mercilessly on the fields of grass hay and sagebrush hills all about as grasshoppers crackled and flew her and there.
Songs of the Outlands: Ballads of the Hoboes and Other Verse
FC 11 K-07
61
Henry Herbert Knibbs
Woodland Bird
Dim in the forest enchantment where a hidden bird rejoices.
More Cow Country
FC 11 E-05
93
Tom Ellinwood
Peaceful Border
Them Russians say the U.S.A.
United States, Russia, border, Mexico
Shorty's Yarns: Western Stories and Poems of Bruce Kiskaddon
FC 11 K-28
12
Bill Siems, ed.
Reptiles
Most all fellers that has worked on the outside has a lot of rattle snake and centipede and tirantula yarns that they have told so often that they git so they believe them their selves.
Fair Girls and Gray Horses
FC 11 O-12
250
Will H. Ogilvie
Christmas Night
The lamps iwll be lit over seas to-night, And the feast of the year be spread, And the girls will gather with faces bright And the wine will sparkle red; And hands will close on the glass's stem,
Saddle Bag Wit and Wisdom
FC 11 T-17
56
Dave Tingey
The Old Man
I was talking to an old man about his life.
Rough Patches II
Deana Dickinson McCall
FOLK COLL 11 M-72
Deanna Dickinson McCall
Various
essays, stories
One Hundred Poems
Waddie Mitchell
FOLK COLL 11 M-73
148
Waddie Mitchell
Jusanudder Toast
We'll drink to distinctly defiers We'll drink to them thinks with their head We'll drink to the meek and compliers and We'll drink to them died and is dead
drink, toasting, alcohol
Ranch Verses
FC 11 C-09
73
William Lawrence Chittenden
The Dying Actor's Soliloquy
Life's farce is nearly ended.
monologue, age, sadness, grief, death
Buck Ramsey's Grass: With Essays on His Life and Work
Scott Braucher and Bette Ramsey, ed.
FC 11 R-08
103
Buck Ramsey
Buck Ramsey's Grass: Epilogue: A Ponder
And was I real or was I dreaming? Was I that boy, "so god of face?"
Voices from the Heartland: A Book of Original Poetry
FC 11 S-47
25
George J. Stucker
Old Friends
Old John's relatives from town come to call.
Stories and Poems
FC 11 J-03
26
Bob Johnston
North Dakota
I traveled your western border in the spring.
seasons, change, land, state
The Cowboy Way
FC 11 L-38
15
Jim Liles
Houston
The rodeo cowboy, has but one goal, to win that gold buckle, a tradition so bold. You'll wind up in Vegas, the end of the year, if you figure a plan, and put it in gear. A computer for sure, is where I would start. I'd lay out a plan, just try'n to be smart.
A Cowful of Cowboy Poetry
FC 11 B-43
58
Baxter Black
Another White Horse
Another white horse just rode by, I guess I saw him comin'.
Where Sagebrush Grows
FC 11 B-62
22
Darin Brookman
Lookin' Back
I sit a horse on twilight's rim The shadows growing long, And in the peaceful quiet hear The coyote's yelping song.
Songs and Poems of the Old West by an Old Cowboy
FC 11 S-12
65
James H. Stevenson
Whispering
In the calm dusk of my room
Stories and Poems
FC 11 J-03
23
Bob Johnston
The Face in the Mirror
Time has walked across this face.
time, whisky, whiskey, drink, weathering, aging, razor, shaving, bloodshot eyes
Buckaroo: Visions and Voices of the American Cowboy
Hal Cannon and Thomas West
FC 11 C-38
42
Teresa Jordan
Before the Phone
I was nine years old before I knew a number by heart.
Cowboy Poetry: Turning to Face the Wind
FC 11 M-50
136
Jane Ambrose Morton
Washing Up
Songs of the American West
Richard E. Lingenfelter, Richard A. Dwyer and David Cohen
FC 11 L-10
303
John Chinaman's Marriage
Good people all, give ear, I pray.