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 Heart, Soul, and Humor
FC 11 F-20
43
Doug Foshee
Old Hats and Old Friends
My wife's a fine lady. There's no doubt about that. But she has no understanding 'bout my old cowboy hat.
Scattered, Lasting Remnants: "Fine Lines" of Poetry and Song
Echo Klaproth
FC 11 K-25
37
Chuck Pyle
He blew in on a wayward gust what you might call a drifter's wind, a six foot frame of hobo dust a rugged life had sifted thin. (from "Drifter's Wind"). You can't push the river, that mighty river's just going to flow. (from "Keepin' Time by the River").
Spur Tracks & Buffalo Chips: Cowboy Verse and Country Chartling
FC 11 S-19
35
Bob Schild
The River's Story
Whispering Waters so cold and so free,
More Cow Country
FC 11 E-05
83
Tom Ellinwood
And Sometimes Less
These days folks turn a faucet and.
bucket, water, well, plumbing
Stretch Marks
FC 11 G-34
41
Peggy Godfrey
Giving away a kidney
Would you do that? Comes in a familiar-sounding voice
After the Chisholm
FC 11 R-45
130
George Rhoades
Greed
Greed came down The raod today, Fat and bloated With this to say: "I grow best On fertile ground, Where rank, wealth, Privilege abound. "I'm driven by ego,
selfish, riches, poverty, More
Silk 'n' Silver And Other Things Too!
FC 11 C-60
25
Jake Conkin
Cowboy Short Poems
Fred-The Mule Trainer, The Roper, Orange Wollies, The Horse Breaker
Collection of 4 short poems
Tails of the West
FC 11 M-44
1
Frank "Two Jump" Morris
Everything Has an Udder Side
I am constantly amazed by those comin' from the eastern part of the country?
Rangeland Melodies
FC 11 S-05
4
E. Richard Shipp
The Queerest Town
Over the hills, across the range,
Voices From the Range
FC 11 S-34
29
Rhoda Sivell
Turned Loose
The wild birds are singing in the willows by the hills, And the horses' hoofs are ringing on the plain; The range calves are calling to their mothers by the creeks, And the cows are answering back to them again.
Where Cattle Roam
FC 11 S-15
61
Al Summers
A Cowboy's Girl
She's a real cowboy's girl, all right
Our Way of Life
FC 11 D-04
11
William "Bill" Doramus
Workin' For Board
Shake the dust off your chinks and hang `em on the peg.
supper, Western Horseman, magazine, day's end, work, board and room
All This Way for the Short Ride
FC 11 Z-02
7
Paul Zarzyski
Hip-Cocked Broncs
Through gates pivoting like pinball flippers.
Where the Wind Lives: Poems from the Great Basin
FC 11 H-31
19
Linda Hussa
The Match
Through a child's eyes I see twilight on the desert.
New Cowboy Poetry: A Contemporary Gathering
Hal Cannon
FC 11 C-30
55
Waddie Mitchell
The Whole Load
In a western town in the days of old.
town, gold, community, church, preacher, sermon, ol' Jake, parson, Satan, religion, feed, God, hay, cow
Steering With My Knees
Paul Zarzyski
FOLK COLL 11 Z-5
69
Paul Zarzyski
Escorting Grammy To The Potluck Rocky Mountain Oyster Feed At Bowman's Corner - A Love Poem
Lean Ray Krone bellers through a fat cumulus cloud of Rum-Soaked Wagonmastser Conestoga
race. spring, baking
Poems of American Cowboys & Nature
FC 11 C-04
94
Bob A. Carson
Fortune
His fortune came too late.
Thoughts in Rhyme
FC 11 M-09
34
E.W. "Roy" Miller
Drizzlin' and Dreamin'
Have you ever seen it drizzle and rain for several days.
A Bronco Pegasus
FC 11 L-14
123
Charles F. Lummis
To Father Time
What's your hurry, Daddy,
The White Clouds Revue, No. 2: Special Cowboy Poetics Issue
FC 11 W-26
13
Bruce Kiskaddon
Desert Treasures
Guitar and Saddle Songs
FC 11 E-10
55
Don Edwards
Sam Bass
Sam Bass was born in Indiana, it was his native home.
Tumble Weed: A Collection of Verse
FC 11 J-02
79
Jim Jennings
Someone to Call Mom
I scarcely remember my real Mom you see.
mother, step-mother, stepmother, child, son, stepson, step-son, marriage, cook
Where Prairie Flowers Bloom And Other Poems
FC 11 H-33
79
Yvonne Hollenbeck
Some Things Never Change
She saw him one day at the sale barn caf?.
love, Stetson, ranch, gate
The Pretzel Hold
FC 11 J-17
1
Bill Jones
The Pretzel Hold
There was this well-known wrestler who had won Olympic Gold and he rose to fame and fortune with what we called the pretzel hold.
Sittin' and A-Grinnin': A Collection of Works
Layle Bagley & Linda Merrill
FC 11 B-11
90
A. Honey
Cowboy Christmas
"I don't want much fer Christmas, Lord.