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
Bell-Bottoms to Boots
FC 11 W-07
112
Joe "Blackie" Wilson
The Case of the Drunken Swede
Now this is a story without a moral
Guitar and Saddle Songs
FC 11 E-10
33
Don Edwards
Doney Gal
We're alone Doney Gal in the wind and hail.
Treasure Chest of Cowboy Songs
FC 11 T-08
30
Buffalo Skinners
'Twas in the town of Jacksboro in the spring of seventy three
The Code Of The West - Then, Now, Forever -
FC 11 B-68
45
Don Bishop
The Path
There are poems about paths not taken, Like dreams that can't come true. Life's a wandering highway, Can't always do what you wanat to.
Graining the Mare: The Poetry of Ranch Women
Teresa Jordan
FC 11 J-10
118
Thelma Poirier
Madame Caillier
Driving into light you close your eyes.
Poetry of Ranch Women
Cowboy Stuffin'
FC 11 A-06
48
Don "Cheese" Akerlow
A Montanan
Give me some land, that is mine; 'Bout half covered with Ponderosa Pine; A lake or river filled with trout; Barn, corral and a place to put my horses out.
Cow Camp Poetry: How it was writ, a lot of truth, and a little B.S.
FC 11 W-35
43
Jack Williams
Cow camp plumber
The cowboy he's plum handy worken a horse or builden a branden fire
Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin'
Virginia Bennett
FC 11 B-69
91
Sally Bates
Generic Titles
I've said it loud and said it long... There's no such thing as a cowgirl.
Horseshoes, Cowsocks & Duckfeet
FC 11 B-47
148
Baxter Black
Ol' Rookie's Flashback
Graining the Mare: The Poetry of Ranch Women
Teresa Jordan
FC 11 J-10
102
Jo-Ann Mapson
Tell Us Again
"Back then," Gemma said, "they gave you ether, none of this panting like a run-over dog.
Poetry of Ranch Women
A Medley of Wilderness and Other Poems
FC 11 B-01
32
Elliott S. Barker
A Theory Sustained
They say that the pleasure of anticipation; Is equal to that which experience brings, And leaving a little to imagination; Enhances the charms of all beautiful things.
dark glasses, bathing suits, bikini, swimming
Cowboy Lyrics
FC 11 C-03
158
Robert V. Carr
Sage Brush
A dusty trail, a burning sky, and splotch of leprous alkali.
sagebrush, nature, landscape
The Humbler Poets: A Collection of Newspaper and Periodical Verse, 1870-1885
Slason Thompson
FC 11 T-04
254
John Burroughs
The Golden Side
There's many a rest on the road of life
Poems of Banjo Paterson
n/a
FOLK COLL 11 P-40
65
Banjo Paterson
Song of the Artesian Water
Now the stock have started dying, for the Lord has sent a drought; But we're sick of prayers and Providence - we're going to do without; With the derricks up above us and the solid earth below, We are waiting at the lever for the word to let her go.
water, well, digging
May Darkness Restore
Sean Sexton
FOLK COLL 11 S-74
100
Sean Sexton
The Ugly Bull
We had to castrate a large black Brahman-cross bull calf born out of season - he was the epitome of ugliness, too much ear, overgrown, wild, wrong in time and place, the result of an unplanned liaison between his Brahman mother and a cull bull that broke through the fence.
castration, shock, mercy
New Cowboy Poetry: A Contemporary Gathering
Hal Cannon
FC 11 C-30
84
Gwen Petersen
Going to Town for Parts
Whenever the tractor quits or balks.
town, parts, wife, husband, ranch,
Cowboy Curmudgeon and Other Poems
FC 11 M-45
2
Wallace McRae
We Never Rode the Judiths
We never rode the Judiths when we were grey-wolf wild.
An Aussie Turned Cowboy Wife
FC 11 S-45
8
Marie W. Smith
Miracle on the Mountain
"Tell us a story, Dad," they said.
Poems from the Alamo Saloon
FOLK COLL 11 L-45
117
Paul Thomas Lillard
The Rattlesnake
The rattlesnake is somewhat mean, the un-friend'ist critter I've ever seen. No sense of humor none at 'tall, never heard one laugh that I recall.
snake, danger, unlucky
A Rancher's Writings
FC 11 S-07
41
Harold D. Sloan
The Old Cowboys
Once again the cowboys gather, for the
The Stampede and Other Tales of the Far West
FC 11 L-05
47
"Powder River" Jack H. Lee
Powder River Let 'er Buck
Powder River, let 'er buck, a surgin' mass of cattle.
Bell-Bottoms to Boots
FC 11 W-07
123
Joe "Blackie" Wilson
Beauty and Truth
"What IS Truth?" I asked in my youth
Cowboy Poetry: The Campfire Ain't Quite Out
Kent Stockton
FC 11 S-59
33
Kent Stockton
Heelin' Steers is Easy
Ain't nothin' to heelin' a damned ol' steer, he said with voice deep an' steady.
Slow Smoke
FC 11 S-02
7
Lew Sarett
To a Grove of Silver Birches
Good morning, lovely ladies! I've never seen You half so fair,--I swear
Saddle Pals
FC 11 S-56
29
My Pal of Yesterday
At twilight when the shadows are falling, at the close of a long dreary day,