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
On the Edge of Common Sense
FC 11 B-12
18
Baxter Black
He was OK Yesterday...Then Bingo
"Doc, I called you just as soon.
Buck, Doctor Bell, garlic, mane, horse, Copenhagen, chewing tobacco, catfish bait, sickness, Larramycin, saurkraut, sourkraut, turpentine, folk remedies, medicine, treatment, folk remedy
Ballads of the Poison Oak
FC 11 K-18
36
Jack Killam
Poets
They tell me you're a poet.
The Song of the Hunter
FC 11 L-40
77
Robert L. Laumeyer
Friend - Let it End
When my enjoyment is over And my consciousness grows dim. Send this note to my doctor. 'Let him die! We love him." (end)
Rope and Pan
FC 11 E-02
53
Martha Downer Ellis
This Fall
And where have I been the summer long.
flowers, garden, observation
Buck Ramsey's Grass: With Essays on His Life and Work
Scott Braucher and Bette Ramsey, ed.
FC 11 R-08
154
Teresa Jordan
On Buck and His Work
Maverick Western Verse
John C. Dofflemyer
FC 11 D-09
82
Rod McQueary
No Apologies
Somewhere along the way; You have noticed warnings; Caught a dead scent whiff; Of old miseries.
The White Clouds Revue, No. 2: Special Cowboy Poetics Issue
FC 11 W-26
17
Bruce Kiskaddon
Startin' Out
Rhymes from the Rangeland
FC 11 B-09
87
Wesley Beggs
How Are You Fixed for Straw?
Reuben come to visit us.
Deer Lodge, prison, jail, thief, steal, saddle
Muddled Meanderings in an Outhouse
FC 11 R-11
16
Bob Ross
The Psychedelic Sandbox
Gingham curtains and polka dot siding
Songs of the Saddlemen
FC 11 B-06
95
S. Omar Barker
Go Down to the Crossin'
Go down to the crossin' and holler to the Boss!
river, high water, dogie, Kansas trail, ol' Ramrod, crossing the river, strip off the duds, naked, herd, herd crossing the river, snuff, snort, mill, milling in the river, Shorty, drown, safe alive, drift-log, Texas, little dogie, cold water, pile of stones, grave, death, trail boss, Trail Boss's bones, epitaph, drowning
Spur Tracks & Buffalo Chips: Cowboy Verse and Country Chartling
FC 11 S-19
83
Bob Schild
Speaking of Coyotes
"Never shoot a coyote," a cowboy told his friend,
Galloping Shoes
FC 11 O-7
16
Will H. Ogilvie
Tom Moody
Death had beckoned with grisly hand to the finest Whip in hunting-land
Poems of the Old West: A Rocky Mountain Anthology
Levette J. Davidson
FC 11 D-02
209
George S. Simpson
Simpson's Rest
Lay me to rest on yon towering height.
solitude, grave, death
Fair Girls and Gray Horses
FC 11 O-12
187
Will H. Ogilvie
The Men Who Blazed the Track!
Since the toasts for the absent are over, And duly we've pledged in our wine Our Land, and our Friends, and our Lover, Here's a toast for you, comrades o' mine: to the fighting band that won the land
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
Trail Dust : Sketches on the Trail
FC 11 H-03 v. 1
5
W. Howard Hamm
Blazin' New Trails
The pioneer opened the highway.
Cowboy Poultry Gatherin'
FOLK COLL 11 A-23
22
Darrell Arnold
Humility
Now, Bill is quite a cowboy. He can ride 'em, oh, you bet. And the horse that he can't handle Jest ain't been invented yet.
humility, cowboy, struggle, practice
Muddled Meanderings of Yesteryear
FC 11 R-14
79
Bob Ross
Saloons
A saloon was often the first business house
Almost a Cowboy: A Biography in Verse
FC 11 W-24
10
Jane Webecke
Missouri Meals
Rhubarb and turnips.
Good Clean Fun
FC 11 N-09
5
Rod Nelson
A Cowboy Goes Skiing
A job in Minneapolis as a civil engineer.
Cowboy Poetry Matters: From Abilene to the Mainstream: Contemporary Cowboy Writ.
Robert McDowell
FC 11 M-54
58
Laurie Wagner Buyer
Kneading Bread
Long before daylight, stove crackling, coffee perking, I sprinkle yeast on honeyed warm water;
Bitter Creek Junction
FC 11 H-32
19
Linda M. Hasselstrom
International Incident
On a still summer day, the blue gelding wants.
The Ranch: Poems of the West
FC 11 L-09
56
Elliott C. Lincoln
Omens
I'd been a-settin' up with Lou.
raising steers, wedding bells
Thoughts in Rhyme
FC 11 M-09
35
E.W. "Roy" Miller
Hunting Hassels
Dear Jim, You sure gave me a hard time, during hunting season this year.
The Bronco Busters Song Album
The Bronco Busters
FC 11 B-32
18
"Texas Ruby" Owens and "Zeke" Clements
Budded Rose
Little sweetheart we have parted.