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
Roped and Tied
FC 11 W-11
25
Mary Mabel Wirries
Zanjero
Knocking, knocking at my door,
Cowboys, Plowboys, and Country Folk
FC 11 R-39
67
Roger Ringer
Horse Sense
Preamble: I have always suspected that these so-called dumb animals have a lot more on the ball than their human counterparts.
Holaday and Hampton Poetry
Hampton Livestock Commission Co.
FC 11 H-39
59
The Holaday & Hampton Poet (Bruce Kiskaddon)
A Tough Pull
There's places and times it ain't no easy trick, a getting' a chuck wagon over a crick.
Brownlee Bedtime Stories
FC 11 S-10
24
Shep Smith
Big Fish -- Small Men
Some of the fish in the river near Brownlee
Up Sims Creek, The Third Trip
FOLK COLL 11 N-18
24
Rod Nelson
Don't mess with 'the Missus' at the fast food place
I was really proud of the Missus the other day. She pulled up to a fast food place and placed her order. As she inched up the line, she noticed that several patrons ahead of her, after receiving their orders, turned around and walked back in to return their purchases.
kindness, compliment, prank, fast food
Cowboy Poetry: Classic Rhymes & Prose by D.J. O'Malley, The N Bar Kid White
Janice and Mason Coggin
FC 11 O-06
70
D.J. O'Malley
A Cowboy's Carol
The winter days are over.
Muddled Meanderings in an Outhouse Number 2
FC 11 R-12
58
Bob Ross
Johnny at the River
Perched out o'er the river bank
Cattle, Horses, Sky, and Grass
Warren Miller
FC 11 C-35
116
Kent Stockton
Minor Addiction
I crawled form my sougans an' reached for the pack.
A Little Bit of Texas: A Collection of Original Poetry
FC 11 N-10
107
Rod Nichols
Old Blue
There's stories been told 'bout hosses been rode.
bronco, boss, cayuse, broke, Pecos Bill, windy
Missouri Cowboy Poetry
Leroy Watts
FC 11 M-46
35
Gail T. Burton
The Rough Life
It was dark there in the line shack.
Rimrock and Juniper
FC 11 K-31
74
E.J. Kirchoff
On a Peaceful Autumn Day
Sure am feelin' mighty lazy on this sunny autumn day. And enjoyin' every minute, knowin' winter's on the way. On the hill the spreading maples are aflame in orange and red. Fleecy clouds of gauze are floating' in a blue sky overhead.
Songs of a Sourdough
FC 11 S-03
34
Robert W. Service
The Three Voices
The waves have a story to tell me
Rhymes Along the Way
FC 11 L-39
80
Robert L. Laumeyer
A Land Where Eagles Fly
In this land of noise and crowds and pollution's yellow sky, I'm proud of the Lazy L, a land where eagles still fly. I winter in Sund City where many new things I try. I summer in Montana, a land where eagles fly.
Rhymes of the Ranges
FC 11 K-04
103
Bruce Kiskaddon
Pullin' Leather
Yes, a cow boy has his troubles, and he shore is out of luck.
cowboy, pulling leather, buck, cactus
Catching It Whole: A First Collection of Poems
FC 11 P-02
19
R.J. Petrillo
Winter in the Balance
Patterned days splatter by, droplets on hot asphalt
Blossoms Beneath the Snow (A Tribute to the Pioneer Ranchwomen)
FC 11 H-34
56
Yvonne Hollenbeck
The Closet Cleaning
I cleaned out hubby's closet.
From Poison Creek to Redwater
FC 11 G-40
22
Kenneth Goss
Chapter Seven
Prose: Often on Saturday evenings, I'd go into Richey and set in Gardner's bar and pool hall and listen to the gossip. A lot of fellers would collect there for the same reason I did.
Poems from the Alamo Saloon
FOLK COLL 11 L-45
62
Paul Thomas Lillard
Remorse
I knew it was wrong doin' the things that I used to do.
stealing, theft, fruit, taste
Sagebrush, Saddles and Spurs
FC 11 T-19
38
Hamilton Teichert
Barrel Racing
Cottontail loved to barrel race. He'd run like a dog With a rabbit to chase.
High Country Ballads
FC 11 N-06
5
Howard L. Norskog
Heaven Is a Rainbow
Somewhere there's a land that God calls his own
Where Shadows Are Born
FC 11 B-73
24
Henry Real Bird
Pour Me A Dream
What do you think pour me a dream turn my feeling on pour me a dream in the peaceful flow of a feelin' downstream around the fire's glow ride with me
dream, rodeo, towns, drunk
Drover Diaries: Original Poems of the American Cowboy
FC 11 N-14
87
Rod Nichols
Old Hand
It was nigh on to evenin' when he got the word, the Bar-T was hirin ag'in. They'd got up a herd, now, for one final drive, and figgured they'd need a few men.
American Cowboy Songs
Robbins Music Corporation
FC 11 A-02
12
Hand Me Down My Walkin' Cane
Hand me down my walkin' cane.
midnight train, drunk, jail
Bitterbrush Country: Living on the Edge of the Land
FC 11 P-31
86
Diane Josephy Peavy
Grand Champion
One Hundred Poems
Waddie Mitchell
FOLK COLL 11 M-73
114
Waddie Mitchell
Rodeo
We're all here to see a rodeo A tradition of the West It's the purest kind of drama Competition at its best Pitting cowboys, stock and stopwatch In the arena here today
rodeo, america, cowboys