FOLK COLLECTION 11: The Skaggs Foundation Cowboy Poetry Collection

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

115

Mike Logan

Temptation

You think you know temptation 'Cause you've seen the city lights Or the gleam of easy money Or some dance hall girls in tights?

temptation, distraction

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

116

Jerry Wright

The Test

The young feller strode up to the cook-shack, Sportin' new boots and a buckskin vest. His chances to land a cowpuncher's job Now hinged on the Cowboss's test.

cow, test, fail, hire

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

117

Harold Carpenter

The Cowboy and the Biker

Out on the High Plains of Kansas, at a roadside stop, Where the Cowboys come for coffee and the local news they swap, A big ugly Biker rode up on a modified hog, In a sidecar was a monster of a dog.

dog, biker, cowboy, eat, death

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

120

Mike Bates

Blusterin' Bill

Down in southern Kansas where their's Oklahoma clay A cantankerous old cowboy got buried yesterday.

honor, death, opinion

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

120

Turk Harsh

Toast to Cassoday

Here's to Old Cassoday With blue sky around. Where the snow never flies And the grass never dies.

toast, scenery, cheap

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

121

Jim Hoy

Ritual

He drove the dead wagon All through the Flint Hills, Picking up blacklegs And lightning kills.

death, smell, stink

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

121

John Markley

The Dog in Front of the Chute

When I go out to work cattle as I quite often do There is one thing that makes me a brute.

dog, chute, moneymaker

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

122

Jack DeWerff

Pretty Good Dog

Jake called last night. Said, "Come over about daylight, And help me gather my cows. Grass is getting dry, Prices are high, And it's time they were weaned anyhow."

chaos, dog, visitors

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

124

Steven Hind

The Ballad of Dung Follower

Oh, the brave young cowboy, Of him the singer tells, How in those soggy feedlots He slogged though aweful smells.

texas, stink, humor

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

125

Jim Hoy

Elmer's Advice

Some horses pitch, some just hop, And some will flat out buck. you know, it helps to know which one does which, Not just really on luck.

obvious, horse, jump

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

126

Jack Wessels

Fear in the Feedlot

I was talking to a neighbor, just the other day, His feedlot was bare; no rain, no grass, no hay,

oyster, bull, steer

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

128

Frank Desprez

Lasca

I want free life, and I want fresh air; And I sigh for the canter after the cattle, The crack of the whips is like shots in battle, The medley of hoofs and horns and heads That wars and wrangles and scatters and spreads;

love, mustang, cattle, death

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

130

F. H. Maynard

Farewell to the Plains

Farewell, farewell, to the western plain! I tightened my cinches and gathered my rein, Then eagerly mounted my good mustang, While full of joy was the song that I sang;

plains, mustang, fate, prairie

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

130

Jack Wessels

Horseshoer's Daughter

She's nearly full grown now Got most of her size, She'll be out on her own soon Or be a lucky man's prize

daughter, horseshoe, skill

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

131

Jerry Wright

The Four-Horse Hitch

As the Monsignor stampedes through the wedding mass in "nine-o," record time - we three cowpuncher heathens, Copenhagen taut lips in our pews, give silent thanks to the priest's pity.

wedding, team, horses

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

132

Diana Russell

Why Horses Are Better Than Men

I guess you could say I'm a veteran Of the various affairs of the heart In these days when most relationships end Almost before they start.

love, horses, communication

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

132

Elva Schouten

Cowboy's Wife

When cowboys go lookin' for themselves a wife, They use an example they've taken from life,

wife, honest, mother

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

134

Mel Raley

Cowboy Talk

A bunch of cowboys were sittin' around Takin' 'bout horses, dogs, and wives. And how in one way or another, They had affected a part of their lives.

girlfriend, wife, love

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

134

Dennis Anderson

The Hang Up

I am a rodeo cowboy and I ride bulls at rodeos, and I thought we had it made but now you tell me you're gonna go.

memory, loss, broken heart

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

135

Steven Hind

The Gal in the Batwing Chaps

I'd lost a few, won even fewer, Down and out with a foot in the sewer, So I thought I'd return to my home true roots In my snap-button shirt and my snakeskin boots.

heartsick, love, attraction

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

136

Jerry Wright

Winter's Redemption

Windswept swales Of virgin white So picturesque, pristine, Breed contempt and curse As I catch up The Buckskin.

winter, joy, cold, family

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

136

Zenith Lindamood

Flames of Spring

I feel once more the magic of that spring, the glow and wonder of each passing day when we were young and love was everything, and in a mist we dreamed the hours away.

spring, memory, warmth

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

138

H. Howard Hamm

Whisperin' Wind

Tonight... I'm feelin' restless... Th' moon is shining, hard and bright Th' wind is a feelin' jest like me - It's blowin' now with all its might.

wind, restless, night

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

139

Glenn Brunkow

More Than a Job

"I love this," you constantly have to remind yourself As the wind pounds the frozen sleet into your face, But if you don't check the heifer no one else will do it, So you turn up your collar and pick up your pace.

cow, work, enjoy

Prairie Poetry: Cowboy Verse of Kansas

Jim Hoy

FOLK COLL 11 H-62

140

Josh Hoy

Hill Pasture, Gathering Strays

He snorts and cuffs the ground Impatient and eager. I frustrate him In my contemplation.

mood, emotion, cattle