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
53
Baxter Black
My 10 Most Unforgettable Experiences of 1981 - no poem
Legacy Of The Land
FC 11 B-72
38
Virginia Bennett
Subdivision
Like a living, emerald wreath that wraps itself around a valley full of grasses where cows lie backside to the wind, the ponderosa forest stands
Spanish style, FAX, pavement, resort, spring, fall
Mustang Spring Stories & Poems
FC 11 M-59
65
Deanna Dickinson McCall
Snowy Ride
I am cold, colder than a man should be and still be alive. I felt my body begin to draw up into itself hours ago, leaving a physical space between the first of many layers I wear and my tightened skin.
Fair Girls and Gray Horses
FC 11 O-12
33
Will H. Ogilvie
Good-Bye, Lynette!
I have worked for you - toil made sweet, love! And never I grudged an hour; Now the dead leaves drift at our fee, love,
Dry Crik Review (Environmental Issue): Fall 1991
John C. Dofflemyer
FC 11 D-20
30
Kell Robertson
The Old Man Goes Home
Under the discount store the fast food place the furniture outlet under all that asphalt is one of the best chunks of black bottom farm land
kiss, womanhood, garden, diapers, parking lot
For Cowboys, Campers an' Common Folk
FC 11 H-19
42
Charlie Hunt
Calf Roper
I've roped some calves an' tied a few.
calf roping, partner, pardner
Poems: Ridin' Fence
FC 11 A-09
8
Vic Anderson
Teen Nature
The young bull calf is in the bunch, With other calves and cows.
Cow Camp Poetry: How it was writ, a lot of truth, and a little B.S.
FC 11 W-35
33
Jack Williams
Tipi creepen
I was mothered up with this crow gal one night when in walks this big buck, and he's on the fight
Poems from the Alamo Saloon
FOLK COLL 11 L-45
79
Paul Thomas Lillard
Friends
I take great pleasure, in most everything that I see each day; A stately tree, a field of grass dogs and kids at play; a springtime sky, with fleecy clouds a warm and gentle shower;
friends, remember, enjoy
Poems from the Alamo Saloon
FOLK COLL 11 L-45
31
Paul Thomas Lillard
Short Round
Knights so bold in days of old oh, what troubles they had. They had to abhor the armor they wore when they had to go real bad.
bathroom, knight
Steering With My Knees
Paul Zarzyski
FOLK COLL 11 Z-5
164
Paul Zarzyski
The Heavyweight Champion Pie-Eatin' Cowboy of the West
I just age 50 pies! - started off with coconut macaroon, wedged my way through bar angel chocolate, Marlborough, black walnut and sour cream raisin to confetti-crusted crab apple -
pies, contest, thanksgiving
Pecos' Poems
Pecos Higgins & Joe Evans
FC 11 H-12
19
Pecos Higgins
Salute to Old Cowboys' Reunion Roundup at Lovington, New Mexico
Friend, I am not a-dreaming.
reunite, friendship
Best Loved Poems of the American West
John J. and Barbara T. Gregg
FC 11 G-09
16
Vesta Pierce Crawford
Pioneer Woman
Beneath these alien stars.
courage, strength, peace, worries
Poet of the Big Horns
FC 11 R-15
31
Don Rowland
Musings of Old Age
How fleet the years that speeding fast
Bitterbrush Country: Living on the Edge of the Land
FC 11 P-31
80
Diane Josephy Peavy
Skunks
I Was Raised In A Barn
FC 11 B-64
36
Mary Borm
Auctioneers
I've been to tons of sales in my life, But can't say that's my forte'. There's a farm sales, and antique sales, Or estate sales that last all day.
Confessions of A Cowboy Poet
FC 11 C-52
135
Bob Christensen
Christmas 2003, New Years's Inventory
Did you ever sit down and make a review of all the old hands that you ever knew and all of the ranges that you ever rode and all of the broncs from which you were throwed?
Breezy Western Verse
FC 11 A-11
95
James Barton Adams
Palmistry at Squawville
When Perfesser Abdul Hamiz, from the far Egyptian land.
Rawhide Rhymes
FC 11 B-05
137
S. Omar Barker
Cowpuncher Praise
Big words never warm up a cowpuncher's heart.
praise, appreciation, he'll do
Original Cowboy Poetry
FC 11 S-25
57
Colen H. Sweeten Jr.
Genuine Leather
It was a half-page ad in the paper
The Cowboy Sings: Traditional Songs of the Western Frontier
Kenneth S. Clark
FC 11 C-33
37
Great Grand-dad
Great-grand-dad when the land was young, Barred the door with a wagon tongue.
Songs of a Sourdough
FC 11 S-03
89
Robert W. Service
Fighting Mac
A pistol-shot rings round and round the world
Western Travels and Other Rhymes
FC 11 G-27
25
Lysius Gough
Driving Beef
On the first of September our voices did sound.
beef, Paluduro, herds, plains, cold, stormy, Cimarron, salt grass, mesquite
Prairie Wife
FC 11 E-20
43
Elizabeth Ebert
Song for Spring
They can sing you a song of the ocean The shimmer of surf and of sand Of the awe that is felt at its vastness And the crash of the breakers 'gainst land. They can sing you a song of the rivers With their grandeur of rapid and fall.
Cowboy Poetry: The Campfire Ain't Quite Out
Kent Stockton
FC 11 S-59
163
Kent Stockton
The Quick Dip
The nice folks at the Flyin' A had asked us to recite some cowboy songs an' poems for their guests one Friday night.