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
Waiting for the Pear to Fall
FOLK COLL 11 D-29
55
Richard M Dunlap
Giving Thanks
I was hauling hay, one hot, July day, And as I dropped the last bale into place. I paused for just a moment, To say a little prayer of thanks.
gratitude, blessings, prayer
Laugh Kills Lonesome
FC 11 L-25
32
Mike Logan
Peach and Hearth
May the God who gave us Christmas.
Buckaroo: Visions and Voices of the American Cowboy
Hal Cannon and Thomas West
FC 11 C-38
67
Linda M. Hasselstrom
Handbook to Ranching
Don't spend any money.
A Charlie Creek Christmas & Other Wint'ry Tales of the West
FC 11 G-38
40
D.W. Groethe
Winter 1903
There lies Dakota, Bleak, Bitter cold.
Saddle For A Throne
FC 11 O-13
307
Will Ogilvie
Bridle Tracks
Out of th years that the locust has eaten, out of the days that are over and fled loom the old roads that the bare hoofs have beaten, wind the old ways that were lovely to tread.
dawn, cloud, pine, irons, shed, dance, glance
Poems of the West: The Spinner of Mists and On Sunset Paths
Lowry Nelson and Harrison R. Merrill
FC 11 N-02
13
Lowry Nelson
How Trails Are Made
Born of much following Lines of tracks amalgamated
leaders, followers
Catching It Whole: A First Collection of Poems
FC 11 P-02
13
R.J. Petrillo
Leadville swings on changing shifts
Leadville swings on changing shifts at the mines Leadville, Colorado
Golden Thoughts of Arizona Poems, Legends, and Ballads
FC 11 T-03
2
Gene Taylor
A Dream Near Verde River
In the Verde River Valley here's what happened to me,
Cowboy Lyrics
FC 11 C-03
154
Robert V. Carr
The Camp's Asleep
The camp's asleep and thro' the gloom.
camp, night, sleep, wagon, covered wagons
Missouri Cowboy Poetry
Leroy Watts
FC 11 M-46
27
Arnold "Buzz" Benson
Create a Legend
While the waning moon slides down the slopes of the western sky.
Piled Higher and Deeper on the Cariboo Trail
FC 11 P-36
32
Mike Puhallo
The Hunter
The Highway Patrolman's out hunting, high risk for minimal pay. He thrills to the roar of his engine, as he hunts his fleet quarry all day, and busts all the truckers and cowboys, who happen to drive the same way!
The Cowboy Hat Book
FC 11 R-35
William Reynolds and Ritch Rand
Book about the cowboy hat.
The Collected Verse of A.B. Paterson: containing The Man from Snowy River
FC 11 P-08
184
A.B. "Banjo" Paterson
He Giveth His Beloved Sleep
The long day passes with its load of sorrow: in slumber deep
Trail's End
FC 11 U-01
10
John Curtis Underwood
Flivvers
They come and stand in the Plaza and drink deep there,
Cowboy Verse in the Traditional Style
FC 11 R-03
2
C. L. Rawlins
The Desert Cowboy
I've rode the wild expanses, from Rock Springs to the Rim.
Poems of American Cowboys & Nature
FC 11 C-04
95
Bob A. Carson
Strangers Meet
You can brag about the famous horses you know.
West River Waltz: Western Poetry
FC 11 G-31
151
D. W. Groethe
West River Moon
Was a night in September where the breaks meet the river
Cowboy poetry and passel of western paintings
FC 11 H-49
14
Jake Holster
A combat soldier's thoughts
Lay still and be quiet my buddy, I know it's cold, rainy and muddy
Bitterbrush Country: Living on the Edge of the Land
FC 11 P-31
25
Diane Josephy Peavy
Wildflowers
Rhymes Along the Way
FC 11 L-39
49
Robert L. Laumeyer
Growing Pains
Ego, on life's butcher block, cut to pieces by each chop. Tenderized and well trimmed yet the butcher will stop.
An Afternoon In The West (More Cowboy Poetry, Pictures, and Other Stuff)
FC 11 C-57
41
D.L. Chance
Underneath A Cowboy Moon
1. Well the work's at an end and we're riding again, the roundup's come and gone.
Brushstrokes & Balladeers: Painters and Poets of the American West
C.J. Hadley
FC 11 H-60
70
Linda M. Hasselstrom
Beef Eater
I have been eating beef hearts all my life. I split the smooth maroon shape lengthwise, open it like a diagram, chambers exposed.
juices, fat, table, mistake
Waddie's Whole Load
FC 11 M-36
105
Waddie Mitchell
Little Bull
My story is of three bulls, all of a bovine breed
Including cassette
Seventy Years in the Saddle
A. B. Melton
FC 11 M-52
97
A. B. Melton
Youth
Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind.
Reflections of the West: Cowboy painters and poets
C.J. Hadley
FC 11 H-59
46
Banjo Paterson
With the Cattle
The drought is down on field and flock, the river bed is dry; And we must shift the starving stock before the cattle die. We muster up with weary hearts at breaking of the day,
faith, twilight, love, prey, wind, mountain