FOLK COLLECTION 11: The Skaggs Foundation Cowboy Poetry Collection
29769 results found for "No Search Criteria Set"Book Title
Composer
Call #
Pages
Author
Poem Title
First Lines
Keywords
Write 'Em Cowboy
FC 11 G-43
44
Peggy Godfrey
I Tried
Seven barely-yearlin' bulls was chasin' Punkin 'round she didn't "take" on her second calf I'd have to haul her to town. Ralph and Vogal worried 'bout ol' Punkin' sorry plight she'd stand chin-deep in a muddy ditch watchin' the earlin' fight.
Write 'Em Cowboy
FC 11 G-43
46
Peggy Godfrey
Listen
At home with a tiny new baby that mid-November day the neighbor's cows are in the stack, eatin' up my hay. This was twice the cows had come, pushed down a corner of fence I mended the break and set some posts; now they're back again. Finally got 'em all chased home
Write 'Em Cowboy
FC 11 G-43
53
Peggy Godfrey
In Forty-Five Years
I've leaned to see the mountains as more than stone and mud come to know my neighbor as more than flesh and blood I've grown to see the work I do as more than passing time poetry means more to me than getting words to rhyme. I'm not aware each day is more than getting on with life I see myself as more than just my role as mom or wife
Write 'Em Cowboy
FC 11 G-43
58
Peggy Godfrey
Why Ranchin'?
Misunderstood intentions mislabeled: "Not to bright" some folks look down on ranchin' as a crude irreverent blight. "Regular" folks get jobs in town accumulate some wealth invest themselves in culture get preoccupied with health. Jog or walk around the par weight-life at the spa
Write 'Em Cowboy
FC 11 G-43
61
Peggy Godfrey
Die-Hard
There's some of us left who still stack our hay on a trailer behind and old truck not big squares or round nor the five hundred pound but bales on person ca buck.
Write 'Em Cowboy
FC 11 G-43
61
Peggy Godfrey
Necessities
Cattle I'm raisin' for profit hay that I bale is for feed I sell my spare time to a neighbor looks like a I got all I need.
Write 'Em Cowboy
FC 11 G-43
62
Peggy Godfrey
Team Calving
Bod and I were riding heifers in the early morning cold tagging sluggish baby calves less than one day old. Looking out for heavies having trouble giving birth a job that comes with cattle no matter what they're worth. We eased up on a heifer
Write 'Em Cowboy
FC 11 G-43
65
Peggy Godfrey
Sellin' Postholes
On a lazy after-dinner we were all too full to move conversation drifted aimlessly through economic grooves. Robert was a moanin' quite sure he'd be unpaid for 300 feet of dry well and casin' he had laid. Us ranchers bemoaned the weather an' the dropped-out price of cattle
Write 'Em Cowboy
FC 11 G-43
68
Peggy Godfrey
First Year Cleanin' Ditches
The Rio Chiquito mother ditch on her way to the Rio Grande owned me nine acres of water rights so with shovel in hand I set off, a new landowner, to join that Saturday band of ditch-cleaners, hired and borrowed my share of the water to claim. My over-wintered muscles and snugly-booted feet
Write 'Em Cowboy
FC 11 G-43
71
Peggy Godfrey
Cattle Work
Sun's high day's hot cowboy's are ready cattle are not. Cattle are penned fences get fought cattle are ready trucker is not. Winter's a whinin' there's mud in the lot cowboy's are ready horses are not. The sale is over cattle are bought trailer is ready critters are not.
Write 'Em Cowboy
FC 11 G-43
74
Peggy Godfrey
Green-Horse Hash
Aha! You laugh at the little no doubt you'd laugh at my lunch if you'd seen it there on the mountain as we cow punchers started to bunch in the meadow sometime close to midday I opened my saddlebags lunch was beyond recognition. You know when the cowdog gags that lunchtime has gone awry.
Write 'Em Cowboy
FC 11 G-43
76
Peggy Godfrey
Aspen Tax
Ridin' in the mountains gatherin' stragglers in the fall cows that won't meander down who'd never come home at all. The sun is still a measure warm aspens turning' gold oak brush dressed in orange and brown say summer has been sold. Crisp air has got that autumn smell flower colors deepen words or paint or photographs:
Write 'Em Cowboy
FC 11 G-43
78
Peggy Godfrey
Out West
The West was not built with excuses for why I can't do this or that times may have changed but at home on the range the cows not the cowboys get fat. The west was not built with excuses for why one can't do what he sez a handshake was good and the good understood without some slick lawyer's finesse.
Write 'Em Cowboy
FC 11 G-43
78
Peggy Godfrey
Definition
I'm not opposed to Western wear and this may sound absurd if ya wear the store but don't punch cattle then "cowboy" is just a word.
Write 'Em Cowboy
FC 11 G-43
80
Peggy Godfrey
Word Wrangling
My rhyme's not academic 'cause I didn't go to schools to study bein' a write so I never learned the rules. I'm fond of some poetic forms aware each has a name it's just that I don't know them but I know all aren't the same. There's names for words that sound alike
Write 'Em Cowboy
FC 11 G-43
83
Peggy Godfrey
Stereotypes
Cowboys I know weren't cast in a mold I've never seen two the same from the hats that they wear or caps or just hair bein' human is all that's to blame. There's tall ones and skinny some big ones and little young 'uns and old grown thick in the middle. Cowboys come gentle there's tempers that fly
Write 'Em Cowboy
FC 11 G-43
85
Peggy Godfrey
Today's Troubadour
What is the role of cowboy poets among their ranching peers? Will their place be honored in another hundred years? They celebrate diversity in seasonal ranching lives weaving its hardship and pleasure 'til my flagging spirit revives.
Write 'Em Cowboy
FC 11 G-43
86
Peggy Godfrey
The Cowboy's Gone
Corrals are great for workin' stock we build 'em good and stout but large or small, there'll be a squall 'cuz a critter's wantin' out. We build our fences tight and high electrify the line the gates are snug, there's not a bug we've sure done mighty fine.
75 Years! My Time In Rhyme
FC 11 M-65
viii
E.W. "Roy" Miller
The Years Have Flown!
I guess my early ridin' days started at the age of four but I gave my pony too much grain and he couldn't walk no more. So a couple of years down the road we got a P.O.A. We rode him and we drove him almost every single day.
75 Years! My Time In Rhyme
FC 11 M-65
1
E.W. "Roy" Miller
The Lamb's Book Of Life
There's a record that is kept, of all that's said and done; Every unkind word and thought, every single one! We'll have to stand before the "Judge," the Greatest of them all; Account for everything we've done, will we rise of all?
75 Years! My Time In Rhyme
FC 11 M-65
2
E.W. "Roy" Miller
A Cat With Nine Lives
When I was just a toddler, about the ago of three; I had a little kitten, I was happy as could be! Dad was cleaning out the barn, stopped at the well house first; He left the team and spreader and went to quench his thirst! My kitten was in danger when she ran beneath the spreader;
75 Years! My Time In Rhyme
FC 11 M-65
3
E.W. "Roy" Miller
Time Is Short
Life is like windup toy, with only so much time; Some meander aimlessly, no purpose, reason or rhyme. If this toy will slip and slide along, and perhaps in circles go; It will come short of its destination and certainly need a tow! But he toy that's wound and has a goal,
75 Years! My Time In Rhyme
FC 11 M-65
4
E.W. "Roy" Miller
The T Bar J In 1950
I was just a big green kid, I was adventure filled; And started at the T Bar J, just after Tom was killed. Tom Jones was right at eighty, I never knew this man; Comin' home from a rodeo, off the road they ran. He was an ol' cowpuncher, from all I ever heard,
75 Years! My Time In Rhyme
FC 11 M-65
6
E.W. "Roy" Miller
My God
My God is real God, who hears my every plea; He offers us salvation, there is no charge, no fee. The offer remains open, it's strictly up to you; He'll change your life completely, this is what you do: ask him for forgiveness, because he says, "repent!"
75 Years! My Time In Rhyme
FC 11 M-65
7
E.W. "Roy" Miller
A Good Feelin'!
I'd been ridin' for several hours through country that's might rough! It sure wasn't easy on "Cougar;" in face it was down right tough! We happened to be in high country; You could see for miles every way! We got on top of this rocky ridge, where the sky meets dirt and clay! I stepped down off of ol' "Cougar,"