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
Spur Tracks & Buffalo Chips: Cowboy Verse and Country Chartling
FC 11 S-19
33
Bob Schild
Man's Best Friend
Little Billy Johnson came late to school one day,
Poems of Banjo Paterson
n/a
FOLK COLL 11 P-40
96
Banjo Paterson
The Open Steeple-chase
I had ridden over hurdles up the country once or twice, By the side of Snowy River with a horse they called "The Ace". And we brought him down to Sydney, and our rider, Jimmy Rice, Got a fall and broke his shoulder, so they nabbed me in a trice - Me, that never wore the colours, for the Open Steeplechase.
race, horse, ribbon
Cowboy Poetry: Contemporary Verse
FC 11 M-43
99
Larry McWhorter
The Panhandle
Where the short grass struggles daily
I Ain't No Dude
FC 11 G-19
51
Lloyd M. Gerber
How Long Has it Been
Dear Floyd, twin, brother and friend; Since last I saw you, how long has it been.
Cowboy Poet
FC 11 W-03
13
Stephen R. Wilhelm
The Old Prospector
Th' old prospector wanders far
Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields
FC 11 H-56
112
Linda Hussa
Did You Forget
The sky was startling clear. Only a few stars bright with heat cooled long before we held hands here, before there was such a thing as love.
sky, stars, night
Round-Up: The Roper
FC 11 C-31
25
Ernest Cox
The Barrel Racer
Now I don't know much about Cowgirls.
cowgirls, tight jeans, barrel racing, cook, rope, range, horsemanship, rodeo
Sun and Saddle Leather
FC 11 C-12
136
Charles Badger Clark
The Locoed Horse
As I was ridin' all alone.
horse, loco weed, death
Rimes of the Rockies
FC 11 M-48
24
Harrison R. Merrill
All A Bluff
Last night I sneezed four different times, my wife cried out in frenzy.
influenza, fishing
Write Tough!
FC 11 G-35
75
Peggy Godfrey
Tough Times For A Rock
I am a chunk of granite Dynamited from my complacency Blasted and ripped From my mountain Chipped and cracked away. Crushed piece by piece.
Cowboy Poems
FC 11 G-23
1
Arden Gillespie
Something Deep Inside
When he was a younger man.
The Exalted One
FC 11 W-25
4
Sue Wallis
Lead Mare
That woman there.
A Living Tradition -- South Dakota Songwriters Songbook Volume 1
George B. German Music Archives
FC 11 G-02
38
Charles Badger Clark
The Glory Trail
Way high up in the Mogollons among the mountain tops a lion cleaned a yearling's bones and licked his thankful chops.
Cow Country
FC 11 E-04
93
Tom Ellinwood
The Artisan
These days most everyone knows how.
horseshoe, shoeing, horseshoeing
Cow-Gals Love Their Cowboys
Jodie and Bob Phillips
FC 11 B-50
3
S. Omar Barker
On the Mesa Trail
On, a white, white horse for a red-haired lass
Rodeo Fever: A Collection of Poems Capturing the Spirit of Rodeo
FC 11 R-01
38
Tom Raley
Thunderhead
Brown, black mane and tail.
Best Loved Poems of the American West
John J. and Barbara T. Gregg
FC 11 G-09
150
attributed to James Barton Adams
The Cowboy's Life
The bawl of a steer.
music, coyotes, bronco, rawhide quirt, royal life, love
I Ain't No Dude
FC 11 G-19
50
Lloyd M. Gerber
It's All in My Head
"Good morning, Mr. Banker, How are you today?"
Ruby Mountain Rhymes
FC 11 W-09
20
Jack Walther
Red Head
A petition circulating around Lamoille you can't belive what it said,
For Cowboys, Campers an' Common Folk
Charlie Hunt
FC 11 H-19
92
Glenn Ohrlin
The Job That Pays the Best
Well, there's some things I am quittin'.
Marlboro cowboy, work, occupation, job, pay
Our Way of Life
FC 11 D-04
17
William "Bill" Doramus
Jack Pot Ropin'
Yore all saddled up and ready to go.
rodeo, pot roping, event, competition
The Medicine Keepers
FC 11 A-10
52
J.B. Allen
Keepsakes
Leanin' 'ginst the weathered gate post while the sun was seekin' rest, Me and Mordecai was vistin', like you'll do, And I asked 'im 'bout that speckled cow with aged and crumpled horns, Fer she stuck out like a sore thumb's purple hue.
Downwind O' Cows: A Collection of California Cowboy Poetry
FC 11 O-04
21
Chip O'Brien
I Got Class
Them city folks say I ain't got no class, A social outcast they shun
Cowboy Heart, Soul, and Humor
FC 11 F-20
81
Doug Foshee
Are there Dogs and Horses in Heaven?
As I sat on my porch last night thinking about all the things that go on in this life, The good and the bad, the happy and sad, and our joys and struggles and strife.
Cowboy Lyrics
FC 11 C-03
111
Robert V. Carr
Speakin' of Arms
I uster think that arms was made.
arms, holding, hug, love, affection