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
The Song of the Hunter
FC 11 L-40
42
Robert L. Laumeyer
Making Mistakes
Much of my life I've gambled Cards and books, have been my toys. All my life I"ve played and written. Dreams and love have been my joys. Sincerity in my verse Is what I always sought.
Songs of the American West
Richard E. Lingenfelter, Richard A. Dwyer and David Cohen
FC 11 L-10
150
I Wandered Today up the Hill, Maggie
I wandered today up the Hill, Maggie.
The Poetry of 'Breaker' Morant
FC 11 M-58
4
Harry 'Breaker' Harbord Morant
Brigalow Mick
A dandy old horseman is Brigalow Mick-- Which his name, sir, is Michael O'Dowd-- Whatever he's riding, when timber is thick, He is always in front of the crowd.
Musings from Cowboy Country
FOLK COLL 11 R-46
13
George Rhoades
Cowboy Ain't A Dirty Word
I hear the word "cowboy" Used more and more As a put-down, an insult, Something to deplore.
insults, cowboy, grit
Where Old Trails Meet the New on Oregon High Desert
Ramona Turmon and Lona Tankersley Burkhart
FC 11 T-12
34
Ramona Turmon
Ranch Wife
He comes in with muddy feet and says where's dinner
Ever and Always I Shall Love the Land
FC 11 G-01
81
Clell Goebel Gannon
Late October Sunset
Before me all the colors of the flowers.
beauty, lowers, solitude, autumn, summer
Muses Of The Ranges
FC 11 D-28
29
John C. Dofflemyer
Addiction
It seems addiction for recycled trees where I inspect prophetic innards dressed is split and spread on pages such as these and like as not there's
forgot, hell, sell, worse, alternatives
Red Hills Malarky
FC 11 W-14
73
Sam Wilson
An April Birthday
Of all the months to be born in no doubt April is perhaps the best
Sky Humour
Sid Marty
FOLK COLL 11 M-68
87
Sid Marty
A Prayer in Lieu of Windchimes
There's a cap of cloud on the Livingstone Pushed by a waterfall of air cloud pours over that brim of rock The wind sleds down to the valley below to whoop-up gravel on the Burmis road which rattles, like hail, on a passing truck
chinook, fear, wind
I've Been There Too: Real Cowboy Poetry Describing Real Wyoming Ranch Life
FC 11 H-22
14
Terry Henderson
Rattlesnakes and Tourists
We have a mountain pasture.
rattlesnake, snake, cattle, pasture, litter, keep out sign, trespassing, trespasser
Poet of the Big Horns
FC 11 R-15
69
Don Rowland
Two Little Shoes
Two little shoes so tiny and wee
Sleepin' in the Bunkhouse
FC 11 G-32
46
Kenneth D. Gardner
Charlie's Horse
Though Charlie was a cowboy, he wasn't anybody's fool. Most of what he know'd and did, he'd learned outside of school.
High Country Ballads
FC 11 N-06
80
Howard L. Norskog
Passing Through
Cowboy Poetry
FC 11 R-34
4
Don Roundy
B.S. From the Bench of the Bootmaker Bard
I've often thought a well built boot with it's curves and line and flow,
Poet of the Big Horns
FC 11 R-15
23
Don Rowland
Mike O'Dow
Mike O'Dow was mighty proud
Poetic Works of Henry Lawson
David McKee Wright
FC 11 L-24
130
Henry Lawson
Men We Might Have Been
When God's wrath-cloud is o'er me.
Waddie's Whole Load
FC 11 M-36
26
Waddie Mitchell
Crowinin' Glory
I'll touch upon a subject, in case anybody cares
hat, clothing Including cassette
Texas Poems By A Texan
FC 11 S-62
24
D.A. Stewart
Thoughts
The man who boasts his riches, His renown, Let him not think that there awaits But hiim of humbler life Who here hath borne Life's heavy load and trod the path Of many a thorn, Can look ahead and hope for glory, Solace and delight, When comes for once eternal day And banishes the night.
Arizona Born
FOLK COLL 11 C-62
9
Dean Cook
A Brief History, etc
Back in 'seventeen, this land was green with the brand new irrigation,
history, emigration, farm
Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads
John A. Lomax
FC 11 L-12
182
Mormon Song
I used to live on Cottonwood and owned a little farm.
Cowboy Poetry: The Campfire Ain't Quite Out
Kent Stockton
FC 11 S-59
21
Kent Stockton
The Long Shadows Time
Those moments just before the dusk inspire a man to rhyme
Songs of the Saddlemen
FC 11 B-06
74
S. Omar Barker
Three Wise Men
Back in the days when cattle range was prairies wide and lone.
Bar-Z, Bar Z, ranch hands, ranch hands, Cimarron, Booger Bill, Mexkin Pete ,Tug, dugout camp, Christmas, holiday, Christmas cheer, bails, Taos, candles, immigrants, camp, loneliness, Missouri, nester, barefoot kids, tin plates, beans, giving, generosity, gifts, sharing, toys, dolls, moccasins, pies, taffy, biskits, biscuit, Christian, nesters
Unhobbled: Cowboy Poetry, Stories, and Outright Lies
FC 11 R-31
2
Pat Richardson
Suicide
Poems of the West: The Spinner of Mists and On Sunset Paths
Lowry Nelson and Harrison R. Merrill
FC 11 N-02
25
Lowry Nelson
New Stars
New stars, Have pecked their way thru dull, dark curtains, Into the blue bright dome.
The Mystique Of Grouse Creek
FC 11 S-64
53
Elden K. Shaw
Shaving
Before the electric or the safety razor And the invention of the depilatory laser, A sharp, straight razor was the only way, To shave unwanted facial whiskers away.