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
Stubby Pencil Poems of Rural Livin' Doin's
FC 11 G-41
42
G.B. Griffith
Conversing with Horses
It's all based on the trust built up between a human and a horse. And that takes time and patience on both parts 'cause neither is perfect, on that I swear is right.
relationship, friendship, love
Trail's End
FC 11 U-01
24
John Curtis Underwood
San Miguel
The old Catholic college has a gray stone front of many windows.
A Look at the Cowboy
FC 11 G-30
25
Max R. Godfrey
Holding On
All they owned in a wagon behind yoked oxen no harness hames and breechins' young Mary Jane, her daughter, and spouse A. F. Richins
Cowboy Poetry: Classic Rhymes by Bruce Kiskaddon (1878-1950)
Mason and Janice Coggin
FC 11 K-21
144
Bruce Kiskaddon
The Race for the Wagon
The cook is at work with his pots and pans.
Rhymes of the Range Land
FC 11 J-04
28
Bob Johnston
The Misplaced Buckaroo
I've known two places in my time.
Australia, Nevada, buckaroo, gear, customs, differences
Ol' Mike's Philosophy and Foolishness
Mike Oatman
FOLK COLL 11 O-14
12
I. W. Wilenchk
The Guy in the Mirror
Whe nyou got what you want in your struggle for self, And the world makes you King for a day, Then go to the mirror and look at yourself, and see what that guy has to say.
reflection, mirror, appearance
West River Waltz: Western Poetry
FC 11 G-31
82
D. W. Groethe
Cracks
Crackin' the window; crack in the wall, crack of a bat on an old baseball.
Treasure Chest of Cowboy Songs
FC 11 T-08
23
Ten Thousand Cattle
Ten thousand cattle, gone astray
An Afternoon In The West (More Cowboy Poetry, Pictures, and Other Stuff)
FC 11 C-57
23
D.L. Chance
Texas #2
The French tourguide became unusually distressed when the rich Texan gazed at the Eiffel, unimpressed.
Dry Crik Review (Elko Commemorative Double Issue): winter/spring 1994, 2 copies
John C. Dofflemyer
FC 11 D-20
34
Shadd Piehl
Buddhists Don't Ride Bucking Horses
Having pushed it half the night 600 miles and a horse at each end, Spurring mind broncs through wrecked Saskatchewan towns, Willy Everide of Seldom Spur, Mont. is stiff and wearied of driving.
Poems from the Alamo Saloon
FOLK COLL 11 L-45
150
Paul Thomas Lillard
The Gooney Bird
Of all the things on land and sea, the gooney bird is the oddest to me.
bird, fly, grace, land, absurd
Dry Crik Review (Environmental Issue): Fall 1991
John C. Dofflemyer
FC 11 D-20
25
Alibates Ranch
Belonging
I'll ride these westward ridges slow and rein this hasty horse back so he'll wait for home, though unimpressed the sun is setting in the west.
darkness, past, judged, tumbleweed, harmless
The Humbler Poets: A Collection of Newspaper and Periodical Verse, 1870-1885
Slason Thompson
FC 11 T-04
45
author unknown
The New Baby
I'se a poor little sorrowful baby,
The Columbine Remembers
Anna Bowie May
FC 11 M-26
69
Anna May
Do More Believing
If we'd all do more believing
Tokens in an Indian Graveyard
FC 11 H-57
77
Linda Hussa
A Friend Spoke At Jimmie Washoe's Graveside
Jimmie came up and stayed with me, more as he got older. He'd get cranky and Marie'd call, "Come and get him!" He and I talked about old days, old friends. I took him places he wanted to see again.
antelope, half-Chinese, Wild meat, Wild men
Trail's End
FC 11 U-01
39
John Curtis Underwood
Hotel de Olid
We have called it a bleak old barracks, but it belongs to us.
Rawhide Rhymes
FC 11 B-05
152
S. Omar Barker
Cowman's Wife
Now the gal that loves a cowboy might as well make up her mind.
livestock, husband, cowman, spouse, marriage, worry, fear, temper, disagreement, second fiddle, wife, honeymoon
Poems of American Cowboys & Nature
FC 11 C-04
70
Bob A. Carson
Fragrance of the Day
The rocks and mountains sleep.
Cowboy Poetry: Rhymes, Reasons, and Pack Saddle Proverbs by Chris Isaacs
Janice Coggins
FC 11 I-02
173
Chis Isaacs
Angels Camp
There's a starlit trail.
Still in the Mountains
FC 11 D-18
10
John C. Dofflemyer
At My Hand
Down the road we want something better than before
Ranch Verses
FC 11 C-09
69
William Lawrence Chittenden
A San Antonio Memory
In old San Antonio city.
Senorita, Gulf of Mexico, hacienda, Eden, memories, song, sadness, loss
Jesse Rogers' Song Collection and Souvenir from Old Mexico
Jesse Rogers
FC 11 R-32
8
Jesse Rogers and H. Fox
As the Sun Goes down
Now I don't know but I've been told; where the Eskimos live its mighty cold,
The Humbler Poets: A Collection of Newspaper and Periodical Verse, 1870-1885
Slason Thompson
FC 11 T-04
267
Will S. Hayes
Contentment
The banks are all abustin', Nance, an' things is goin' to smash
The Stampede and Other Tales of the Far West
FC 11 L-05
139
"Powder River" Jack H. Lee
Pretty Kittie Lee
To pretty and wistful Kittie Lee; Who has traveled the winding trails with me.
Where Old Trails Meet the New on Oregon High Desert
Ramona Turmon and Lona Tankersley Burkhart
FC 11 T-12
29
Ramona Turmon
Riding Drag
It gets dusty back here riding drag