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
Where the Wind Lives: Poems from the Great Basin
FC 11 H-31
51
Linda Hussa
The End
We decided on cremation.
Thoughts in Rhyme
FC 11 M-09
47
E.W. "Roy" Miller
The Rock Island Line
There's a group of mangy characters, that work for R.I.O.
RU Lazy 2?
FC 11 N-15
31
A.G. Nelson
The Examination
To recount this here experience, Is almost too embarrassin' to mention; But I simply write this in hopes, That it will relieve someone's tension.
Humorous Cowboy Poety: A Knee Slappin Gathering
Dawn Valentine Hadlock and Madge Baird, editors
FC 11 H-42
93
Phil Kennington
Rocket
Ole rocket had distemper, he was sick and wet with seat.
Poems of American Cowboys & Nature
FC 11 C-04
85
Bob A. Carson
Judge Not
In men whom men condemn as ill.
Poetic Works of Henry Lawson
David McKee Wright
FC 11 L-24
236
Henry Lawson
Write It Down for Me
In the parlour on the shanty where the lives have all gone wrong.
Best Loved Poems of the American West
John J. and Barbara T. Gregg
FC 11 G-09
103
Reuben M. Potter
Hymn of the Alamo
Rise, man the wall, our clarion's blast.
reveille, fight, battle, freedom, Thermopylae
Missouri Cowboy Poetry
Leroy Watts
FC 11 M-46
215
Ron Ratliff
Favorite Season
The air was cool and crisp, the a sun was shining bright
Where Cattle Roam
FC 11 S-15
31
Al Summers
Just Your and I
Just you and I, side by side
Poet of the Big Horns
FC 11 R-15
31
Don Rowland
Musings of Old Age
How fleet the years that speeding fast
Outdoors, Faith, Fun and Other Poems
FC 11 B-02
29
Elliott S. Barker
Ramifications
The ram ran off of a high, high cliff; And landed square on his head ka-biff.
ewe, U-turn, humor, sheep
More Muddled Meanderings in an Outhouse
FC 11 R-13
70
Bob Ross
Burned Out
No one knows how the fire was set
The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses
FC 11 P-16
169
Banjo Paterson
There's Another Blessed Horse Fell Down
Exchanging Courtesies
FC 11 S-57
12
Marie W. Smith
Authenticity: To a Friend
Is it a cowboy poem if I write of a cowboy?
Brushstrokes & Balladeers: Painters and Poets of the American West
C.J. Hadley
FC 11 H-60
111
Leon Flick
Fiddles
There's something almost mystical in them magic fiddle tunes, like swans, a flyin' overhead, and callin' to the moon. Like a bull elk calls his challenge
heaven, harp, keys, boys
Poems of the West by Charles Badger Clark, Jr.: Previously Unpublished
Greg Scott
FC 11 S-37
16
Charles Badger Clark, Jr.
Cowboy and Coyote
Ridin' home when light is fallin', And the draws are dim and still, I can hear the coyote wailin'
Poems from the Alamo Saloon
FOLK COLL 11 L-45
5
Paul Thomas Lillard
Bad Day at the Alamo
There was grief, so much grief at the Alamo, and all the boys at the saloon were feeling mighty low.
grief, home, despair, solemnity
Cowboy Poems from Mona Flatts
FC 11 R-28
24
Scott Redington
Cowboy Sweethearts
My first cowgirl lover was Katie.
Rambler's Notebook: 50 Years of Scribblin': Songs & Poems from the Road
FC 11 A-16
91
Singin' Sam Agins
Sixth and Main
Not so long ago, when you were somewhat younger, I'd pass the old guys, sittin' on the bench at 6th and Main.
Pat Richardson, Unhobbled
FOLK COLL 11 R-50
22
Pat Richardson
Mom and the Billy Goat
Once we had a bunch of goats that us kids milked and tried to raise calves on the goat milk, so our Dad could become a cattle baron. Our father worked at a ranch and wasn't home much to tend to catastrophes that are bound to arise around livestock. We had a big, stinking, mean Billy goat that was kept tied on a chain (obviously not a very good chain) and he would get loose now and then causing us all to be afraid to venture outside.
goat, chase, mother
Dry Crik Rview: Spring 1993
John C. Dofflemyer
FC 11 D-20
30
Art Coelho
A New Pilgrim's Hymn
America has enough faces to fill a cosmic cowboy hat, and that endless wild rose blooming across Colorado -- that Montana blizzard killing calves at sixty below.
Navajo, pride, patrols, degrees, future, vision
More Rhymes of a Ranch Hand
FC 11 L-06
34
Frank D. Lemon
Park Avenue
While gazing down Park Avenue.
What I Learned On the Way to Life: Insights and Concepts learned along the way..
FC 11 J-15
83
Hans "Jake" Jeppson
The Female Nightrider
We ran about five thousand head.
Along the Chisholm Trail and Other Poems
FC 11 R-44
130
George Rhoades
Veterans
At a theater up in Branson During a break in song and fun, Those who served the nation In peacetime or at a battle station Were asked to stand to be recognized For keeping the country free and civilized.
Cowboy Poetry: Contemporary Verse
FC 11 M-43
82
Larry McWhorter
Through the Tackroom Door
You'll find a ranch museum.