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
Poems of American Cowboys & Nature
FC 11 C-04
113
Bob A. Carson
The Cowboys Sic Friend
Oh Horsie, I wish to see you do your part.
Brushstrokes & Balladeers: Painters and Poets of the American West
C.J. Hadley
FC 11 H-60
16
Sue Wallis
Lead Mare
That woman there she can be a lead mare has watched horses so long and so well she can tell what goes on in their minds
saddle, Kentucky, outfits, crowd, quit
On the Trail
FC 11 J-21
29
Billy James
A Tree on the Trail
One day on the trail I looked at a tree That seemed to be somewhat a mystery. It stood there alone on what old cattle trail;
City Cattle: Humorous Western Political Satire
FC 11 J-06
76
Derwin J. Jeffries
A Headin' Home
I've seen 'em lookin' mighty fine.
contented, love
Passing Through
FC 11 N-03
84
Howard L. Norskog
Wyoming's Answer
You came to my land and raped me, You took my timber and coal
Steering With My Knees
Paul Zarzyski
FOLK COLL 11 Z-5
50
Paul Zarzyski
A Lesson In Animal Zen
Built for full-grown cattle, the alley-way to the squeeze chute is far more than just a Hereford hair too wide for the five-seven-ten head of calves not at all funneling smoothly into single file, doing their best worst
cattle chute, animals, cowboy
75 Years! My Time In Rhyme
FC 11 M-65
49
E.W. "Roy" Miller
Outdoor Meditation
I like to come up on this point, and think and meditate; To sort'a count my blessings, relax and concentrate I like this view, one sees from here, for miles and miles around; It's gorgeous and amazing, anyone, would astound! way off in the distance,
Cowboy Poetry: Cloud Watchers
FC 11 F-16
32
Rolf M. Flake
How Do You Spell "Relief?"
Well, it sprinkled a little bit yesterday On the twenty-third of June-- It gives us hope for summer rains, And we hope they will come soon. The rainy season's due to start Somewhere around July the Fourth-- We depend on it for our living On our little ranch up north.
Hoofprints Through the Sage
FC 11 K- 27
52
E.J. Kirchoff
First Snow
Here and there a lazy snowflake Comes floating slowly down To dissappear completely As it settles on the ground. But still they keep on coming. One by one. By twos and more.
Dry Crik Review (Environmental Issue): Fall 1991
John C. Dofflemyer
FC 11 D-20
22
J. B. Allen
Silent Witness
The wind had blown for countless years 'cross oceans, lakes and land, as climates changed and creatures lived and died, barely conscious of the puny shapes
whirlwinds, pursue, desert, blame, scar, waste
Bygone Days of the Old West
FC 11 L-01
464
Fred Lambert
All You Old Waddies
Come on-all you old Waddies; Out of your bed-rolls, up with the sun.
Sundry Rhymes
FC 11 G-18
21
June Brander Gilman
The Barnyard Dance
A curly-headed, brown-eyed tot.
Ranch Reveries
FC 11 H-21
8
Oscar Herem
Untitled
We think of you most every day.
grandchildren, grandparents, children, family, home
Along the Chisholm Trail and Other Poems
FC 11 R-44
49
George Rhoades
Restin' Place
I came up from South Texas Where the bluebonnets grow, Followin' the longhorns north Swayin' in the saddle to and fro.
Buckaroo Ballads
FC 11 B-04
115
S. Omar Barker
A Ballad of Buzzard Bill
Ol' Buzzard Bill he took a ranch out on the ol' Sala'o.
calves, rustling, steal
Poetry of Skinny Rowland, Complete Works to 1993
Skinny Rowland
FOLK COLL 11 R-49
57
Skinny Rowland
Real Cowboys
Now you sure ain't no cowpoke dude, from way out in the west, I sure don't see no big quitar, or sequins on your vest.
cowboy, fashion, wealth
An Ol' Cowboy Still Remembers?and Other Cowboy Poems
FC 11 E-12
3
Glen Enloe
An Ol' Cowboy Still Remembers
When that cold autumn wind comes a blowin' hard.
Songs of the Cattle Trail and Cow Camp
John A. Lomax
FC 11 L-13
89
A Cowboy Song
I could not be so well content.
Rhymes of a Rolling Stone
FC 11 S-63
11
Robert Service
The Gramaphone At Fond-Du-Lac
Now Eddie Malone got a swell grammyfone to draw all the trade to his store; An' sez he: "Come along for a season of song, which the like ye had niver before." Then Dogrib, an' Slave, an' Yellow-knife brave, an' Cree in his dinky canoe, Confluated near, to see an' to hear Ed's grammyfone make its dayboo.
Rawhide Rhymes
FC 11 B-05
82
S. Omar Barker
Ol' Snoozy Schmidt
A sleepin' fool was Snoozy Schmidt.
sleep, snoring, bedroll, doze, tiredness, kack, rustlers, spool the roll, bedding, blankets, cockleburs, wowser's spurs, Tucson bed, sleeping in the open, homesteaders, barbed wire, trail, longhorn, settler, prairie, prairie grass, fire, gun, shooting, Old West, rest, storm, thunder, nap, plains, plow, rustling
The Land Where the Cowboy Grows
FC 11 H-36
31
Addie Viola Hudson
Anemone
Anemone--thou dainty flower that greets us e'er the now departs,
Poems, Facts and Fiction
FC 11 O-03
65
Harold Otto
Butch McFee
There's an apple tree pruner on Jack Nickell's place, that for speed and neat work sets a real torrid pace.
Confessions of A Cowboy Poet
FC 11 C-52
29
Bob Christensen
He Sent The Boy to College
Buck Buckley was a rancher back when the century turned and to have a fancy herd of cows was for all he ever yearned. He'd ride around from ranch to ranch to find that special bull;
Saddle Songs: A Cowboy Songbag
FC 11 E-19
190
Don Edwards
Song; West Texas Blues
Songs of the Saddle and Trails Into Lonesome Land
FC 11 B-19
35
E.A. Brubacher
Contentment
The old ranch seems content tonight, as I view it from the hill.
contentment, ranch, harvest, grain, night, contentedness