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
Counting the Aerie Escalator's Steps: Bald Mountain Poems Winter 80/81
FC 11 P-06
24
Scott Preston
From a Notebook in April
Have tried meditation on
Blazin' Bloats and Cows on Fire
FC 11 B-56
15
Baxter Black
Cowboys advice to the lovelorn
While entertaining the Farm Bureau in Ventura, California, I was introduced to three cowboys who were colluding on a column with the editor of the Ventura County Star
prose
Maverick Western Verse
John C. Dofflemyer
FC 11 D-09
64
Greg Keeler
Llamas in the Landscape
And what are these spattering calico over this valley of the Horse Shoe Hills.
The Collected Verse of A.B. Paterson: containing The Man from Snowy River
FC 11 P-08
208
A.B. "Banjo" Paterson
Wisdom of Hafiz
My son, if you go to the races to battle with Ikey and Mo
Buddy Ballads: Songs of the A.E.F. (1919)
FC 11 B-42
74
Berton Braley
Tommy
Queer about Tommy, we can't get along with him, always in wrong with him, can't seem to fix it
Bygone Days of the Old West
FC 11 L-01
317
Fred Lambert
Old Fort Union
Out in the sage-brush on western prairies/ In the sunshine state New Mexico,/Stand the ruins of Old Fort Union
Poems Mostly Cowboy
FC 11 N-16
26
Dick Nichols
A Girl Like You
I have traveled nigh a million miles And maybe even more, From the tropics down in Mexico To the frozen Arctic shore.
Riding the Range With Floyd
FC 11 O-09
30
Floyd Oyhus
Bachelors
Some folks think that all bachelors Are dirty, lazy and mean. But I know quite a few Who in my point of view, Are neat or halfway between. Some of them make a good living,
Drift Wood
FC 11 B-59
48
Lucy S. Burnham
The New Year
I seek not in the vast unknown, Nor fear what needs must be. What has been gives me faith to know That God will care for me.
On the Edge of Common Sense
FC 11 B-12
11
Baxter Black
It's A Small World - not a poem
JB The Circle
Duward Campbell and Chuck Milner
FC 11 A-17
21
J.B. Allen
Ridin for the Brand
We rode for the brand 'til they fired us when screw worms were whipped in the fall,
One Cowboy's Faith, Family and Friends
FOLK COLL 11 M-74
13
Roy R Moore Jr
Look on the License Plate
Is Texas the cowboy state? Some say it is , some say it ain't. I say Wyoming is, there's no debate It's on the license plate!!
license plate, nickname, cowboy
Scattered, Lasting Remnants: "Fine Lines" of Poetry and Song
Echo Klaproth
FC 11 K-25
107
Carolyn Dufurrena
This man understands the meaning of both these words: espera, esperanza. Wait for the water. Wait and hope and watch. (from "Desert River").
Arizona Herstory: Tales from Her Storied Past
FC 11 J-13
214
Dee Strickland Johnson
Lady in the Copper Mesh Gown
Sharlot was a prairie girl reared on a Kansas farm.
James Hall, farmer, read, write, cook, clean, history, philosophy, art, biography, Arizona, mining, artifacts, creativity, pioneers, Indians, ruins, preservation, United States Congress, ancient ones, dwellings, hieroglyphics, Calvin Coolidge, Yavapai County
Verse for Aussie Children
Carmel Randle
FC 11 R-27
64
Bob Miller
On the Land
A miracle falls in a million splatters --
Rhymes Along the Way
FC 11 L-39
23
Robert L. Laumeyer
Epilogue
Our memories still linger. They are our ties to the past. Our early memories carry on. They are the ones that last.
Brush Poppers: Original Cowboy Poetry
FC 11 P-38
63
Dale Page
His Master's Voice
Near a twisted old pine 'neath the high timberline Where the eagles still soar and the cougars still roam,
Dennis Nazelrod, Jana Sinclair, teapot, dog, wife
A Little Bit of Texas: A Collection of Original Poetry
FC 11 N-10
153
Rod Nichols
Texas Boot Shop
There's a 'Cowboys Only' boot shop down in Texas.
hide, ostrich, bush hog, horny toad, snake, ox, elk, beaver, grizzly, custom
Lessons From Leo
FOLK COLL 11 Q-2
73
Vess Quinlan
Tee Hee
A favorite companion, this strange old man, who lived in a tar paper shack near the town dump.
veteran, dump, scars, role model
My Father's Horses
FC 11 G-33
8
DW Groethe
This Old Post
This old post was cut an' cleaned an carted up the river road
Cowboy Love Poetry: Verse from the Heart of the West
Paddy Calistro, Jack Lamb, Jean Penn
FC 11 C-36
77
Rambling Boy
I am a wild and roving lad, A wild and rambling lad I'll be.
Spur Jingles and Saddle Songs
FC 11 G-06
104
Lysius Gough
Wildly and the Babe
A man worked on the T-Anchor ranch.
round up, hurt, pain, Vince Terry, death, burial, grave, Truby
Passing Through
FC 11 N-03
11
Howard L. Norskog
The Angel Child
There lives a one, by the long tall tree, And man's the time she's conversed with me
More Cow Country
FC 11 E-05
75
Tom Ellinwood
The Recompense
The desert blooms are bustin' out.
cactus, flowers, desert, beauty
Pardners
FC 11 C-18
4
Jo Casteel
Bureaucracy
They say I'm not efficient.
paperwork, record keeping, statistics, banks, government, red tape