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
The Broncho Book
FC 11 C-13
137
Captain Jack Crawford
Woman's Influence
Dear Friend, what a halo of sunshine and glory.
womanhood
Songs of the Cattle Trail and Cow Camp
John A. Lomax
FC 11 L-13
174
Where the Grizzly Dwells
I admire the artificial art of the East.
Poems: Ridin' Fence
FC 11 A-09
64
Vic Anderson
Loading a Bull
They had to move a bull from the pasture on that day, Which doesn't seem so hard when there's nothing in the way.
"Pull Your Hat Down and Come-a-Ridin'!": Photos and Ridin' Rhymes
FC 11 K-14
7
Gayle S. Klein
The Cowboy Farmer
The Cowboy farmer rides wild in the field; Hopin' to improve his yearly yield.
Horses Women Mountains
FC 11 R-17
41
David Roberts
The Redtailed Hawk is a Hunting Bird
Wild Prairie Roses: A Collection of Verse by North Dakotans
Shirley J. Mikkelson
FC 11 M-11
60
Alice Bredeson Aarhus
peddler woman
Along the winding road to Farmer Brown
Farmer Brown, dusty, peddler, something, sell, dangerous, money, scared, house
West of East
FC 11 H-17
63
Harry Elmore Hurd
Mount Lassen Volcanic Peak
Silent Mount Lassen.
volcano, Peter Lassen, climbing, climb
Melodious Poems From the Hills
FC 11 B-58
51
Sandia Bill
The Desert River
At the head of a little desert river, The water spreads out o'er dry hot sand And seems to waste itself in the desert land. Though the water disappears in haste, Not a single drop of it ever goes to waste.
Spur Tracks & Buffalo Chips: Cowboy Verse and Country Chartling
FC 11 S-19
9
Bob Schild
The Appy Man
Polka Dot Dan, the Appy Man, wore spotted shirt and boots
From a Cowboy's Point of View
FC 11 H-52
64
Dick Hays
Th' Bareback Ride
"Let's get him out!" a rider said, as he fell upon his back, An' hung his spurs away up front In a big ol' rangy black.
Maverick Western Verse
John C. Dofflemyer
FC 11 D-09
74
Jo-Ann Mapson
Poor Man's Silver -- For Sultan
This is not the way it's supposed to end, you down in the pasture, fighting twisted gut.
The Humbler Poets: A Collection of Newspaper and Periodical Verse, 1870-1885
Slason Thompson
FC 11 T-04
152
Asking
He stole from my bodice a rose
Pony Nelson and Other Western Ballads
FC 11 R-09
11
Clyde Robertson
Pony Nelson
Young Pony Nelson.
Cattle, Horses, Sky, and Grass
Warren Miller
FC 11 C-35
58
Kay Kelley
Spider
Old Spider was a big brown horse.
Is She Country?
FC 11 B-76
27
Marleen Bussma
The Bakken Bovine Beauty Spa
As red ruminatin' Ruthie roams the pasture rich and green it is twilight in the Bakken and it's not a peaceful scene. Oil crews are workin' nonstop
spa, finance, beauty, stress, frame
Rambler's Notebook: 50 Years of Scribblin': Songs & Poems from the Road
FC 11 A-16
92
Singin' Sam Agins
Lonely Doodling
Loneliness is doodling time.
Wind Songs
FC 11 R-43
25
Norman Edward Rourke
Deep Woods
Beyond the field the deep woods loom, and there amidst its shade, Live the creatues of the wild, Whose sounds are quietly made.
Meadow Muffins: Cowboy Rhymes and Other B.S.
FC 11 P-29
31
Mike Puhallo
The Valley
The glaciers and rivers.
Prairie Song A Meander Of Memory
FC 11 G-44
6
DW Groethe
Somewhere in the Night
Somewhere, in the night, rain came. Not much (maybe thirty hundredths), but enough to trickle leaves clean of dust dun. Down and off to chapped patches of open earth, healing, sealing,
Almost a Cowboy: A Biography in Verse
FC 11 W-24
42
Jane Webecke
Hunting with Blackie
Each year when we planned to go hunting.
Rhymes o' a Driftin' Cowboy
FC 11 H-01
169
Chuck Haas
How come?
How come, in pictur's, cowboys are lean.
how come, movies, motion picture
Last of a Breed: Portraits of Working Cowboys
FC 11 S-13
Martin H. Schreiber
Cowboy Poetry: The Gathering
FC 11 W-28
131
Michael Whitaker
Desert Sand
The burnt was land lays under my feet.
Best Loved Poems of the American West
John J. and Barbara T. Gregg
FC 11 G-09
218
author unknown
The Trail Herd
Clouded sun on coolin' morn.
cattle, dust clouds, chuck wagon, grub, lullaby, love, dreams, stars night
Cowboy Poetry: Classic Rhymes by S. Omar Barker (1894-1985)
Jodie and Bob Phillips
FC 11 B-44
105
S. Omar Barker
The Cowgirl at College
Oh, the grass on the range of the old Bar G; Is turning a winter gray.