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
Cowboy Poetry: Cloud Watchers
FC 11 F-16
134
Rolf M. Flake
The Cure
Well, I went back east a few years ago-- Well, really, just to the Midwest. Northern Iowa to be quite specific-- Farming country-- some of the best. I stayed in a hotel there for a cojple a' weeks, In Mason City at an Auction School-- Learnin' how to be a real auctioneer And not just a blabberin' fool.
Cow Tracks on the Land
FC 11 B-66
19
Lona Tankersley Burkhart
The Colors of a Winter Night
The bright yellow moon hung like frozen fire in the midnight sky. Luminous threads of fog drifted thru trees like the echo of a sigh.
Muddled Meanderings in an Outhouse Number 2
FC 11 R-12
59
Bob Ross
Springtime Sorrow
Every year there comes a time
The Bronco Busters Song Album
The Bronco Busters
FC 11 B-32
20
"Texas Ruby" Owens and "Zeke" Clements
Who Broke the Lock
I went down to the farmers' gate.
The Collected Verse of A.B. Paterson: containing The Man from Snowy River
FC 11 P-08
130
A.B. "Banjo" Paterson
The Scottish Engineer
With eyes that searched in the dark, peering along the line
The Humbler Poets: A Collection of Newspaper and Periodical Verse, 1870-1885
Slason Thompson
FC 11 T-04
123
Pakenham Beatty
When Will Love Come?
Some find Love late, some find him soon,
Bygone Days of the Old West
FC 11 L-01
439
Fred Lambert
The Foreman's Daughter
The new range boss has a daughter; Just as purty as she can be.
Shorty's Yarns: Western Stories and Poems of Bruce Kiskaddon
FC 11 K-28
7
Bill Siems, ed.
Startin' Out
When you have to start out on a cold winter day, The wind blowin' cold and the sky is dull gray. You blow on the bit till you take out the frost, Then you put on the bridle and saddle yore hoss.
Cowgirls: Women of the American West
FC 11 J-11
2
Teresa Jordan
Elsie Lloyd and Amy Chubb
Cowboy Poetry: Cloud Watchers
FC 11 F-16
116
Rolf M. Flake
Endurance Contest
There's an event of some great renown-- Takes place in late July. It's a little bit hard to describe it-- but I'll sure give it a try. It's held at Flake Family Reunion time Up here in old Snowflake town. The family's been here for over a hundred years, And each year the all gather 'round.
Brush Poppers: Original Cowboy Poetry
FC 11 P-38
41
Dale Page
The Widow's Mite
When the widow awoke, she donned slippers and cloak And coaxed fire from the black iron stove 'Cause a norther rolled in,
Mark 12, Sunday, God, sorry, bless, shame
Hey! Elko
FC 11 P-05
26
M.H. Porter
Our Deserts
There are deserts in our lives, the arid times that scorch our souls and try our minds
Stretch Marks
FC 11 G-34
26
Peggy Godfrey
Ten Degree Nights
Freezing winds, skiffs of snow calves are gettng sick
Cow Tracks on the Land
FC 11 B-66
75
Lona Tankersley Burkhart
The Sunday Cowboy and the Blue Heeler Dog
When friends from town come out to visit, late last spring. They had a blue heeler dog, they sure did want to bring. And go along, when I drive the cows up to the summer feed.
Missouri Cowboy Poetry
Leroy Watts
FC 11 M-46
97
Carol Ellis
The Light in the Window
We've been riding, checking cattle
A Bronco Pegasus
FC 11 L-14
19
Charles F. Lummis
Love
The Sea to which my rivers run
Muddled Meanderings in an Outhouse
FC 11 R-11
56
Bob Ross
A Sticky Situation
Roses are red and violets are blue
Song of the Cowboys
N. Howard Thorp
FC 11 T-11
171
The Zebra Dun
We were camped on the plains at the head of the Cimarron
Rhymes o' a Driftin' Cowboy
FC 11 H-01
214
Chuck Haas
Terr'ble Sweet
I'm a music-lovin' hombre.
music, nature, sound, sounds, song, singing
Barbed Wire and Other Poems
FC 11 P-04
76
Edwin Ford Piper
The Neighborhood
Once more 'twas spring! The meadow-lark gave note
The Down to Earth Collection
FC 11 S-71
11
Mike Sweet
Buried Treasure
I returned one day in search of the treasure, buried here some 40 years ago. Hadn't been here in so long I needed to feel the past before I could go.
Screwbean Perspective
FOLK COLL 11 B-80
27
Fin Bayles
An Ode to Unisex
It came time for our annual vacation To go someplace 'sides the farm. With my grain I'd got most of my bills paid, Had my hay crop piled up in the barn.
hippies, gender, confusion
Cowboy Poetry: Real Ole Down Home Stuff
FC 11 T-06
34
Dolores Tozer
A February Dilemn
Its raining and hailing, the wind is a fright, The calves have got the scours and the cows bags are tight, This calvin' in February is sure quite a thing,
75 Years! My Time In Rhyme
FC 11 M-65
124
E.W. "Roy" Miller
How The Flies
Have you ever stopped to ponder, or think of how time flies; How we are getting older, regardless of what one tries. How we are getting withered, or perhaps are turning grey; How we begin to tire, and look for close of day. Remember when the two of you, you and your lovely spouse;
Cowpie justice: Cowboy Poetry
FC 11 R-38
5
S.E. Raub
The mama cow
Back in the days when great grandfather rode he was honest and always forthright