FOLK COLLECTION 11: The Skaggs Foundation Cowboy Poetry Collection
| Date of Items: | 1890-present | Register Prepared by: | Randy Williams and Susan Gross, April 2004 |
| Register Updated by: | Randy Williams, 23 December 2009 |
| Excel database transfered to MYSQL and uploaded (replacing PHP data): | Colin Jackson, Fall 2010 |
| MYSQL database updated: | Randy Williams, January 2012 |
| Linear Feet: | 20 |
Historical Note & Provenance
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.
Scope and Content
The collection consists of 20 linear feet of books on cowboy poetry, including press and self published works. The collection can be accessed through USU Libraries online catalog.
As well, poem titles and keywords found in each book in the collection are included in the database below. To use, type in the search term. Tip: Try and use an uncommon
word from the poem to ensure less "hits." For instance, if you enter "boots" you will get many hits; but if you enter "bones" you will most liley get fewer "hits" or poems and find the item you seek faster.
To return to the search page, click "home" at the bottom of the page.
Search:
Poetry table.
First Previous Next Last| ID | Book Title | Composer | Index | Pages | Author | Poem Title | First Lines | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24416 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 134 | Rhoda Sivell | Our Last Ride | We drifted out West together, In the light of the dying day; The town faded far behind us, Bath'd in its gas-light ray. | |
| 24417 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 135 | Kay Shean | For Fred | For some, romance's path is in a look. And others long to savor soft caresses, Or search the pages of a Bradford book | |
| 24418 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 136 | Debra Coppinger Hill | Yellow Slicker | She wore his yellow slicker Though it almost drug the ground, It seemed to make things easier, As if he was still around. | |
| 24419 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 138 | Linda Hussa | Return | After you've gone I notice your overnight bag on the bench by the screen door-- shaving kit, freshly ironed shirt. | |
| 24420 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 139 | Jody Strand | Unfaithful | The cowboy made a solemn vow to his lovely bride-to-be: he promised to be faithful through all eternity. | |
| 24421 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 141 | Marie W. Smith | Skipping Rocks | I rode today across the stony beach, picked a rounded purple skipper, flat from constant waters long caressed. | |
| 24422 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 142 | Jody Strand | The Hired Man's Wife | With the job, your housing's furnished, but your house is not your own, And every time you have to move, you grumble and you groan. | |
| 24423 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 144 | Dee Strickland Johnson | Tomboy | I was raised with seven brothers near a place called Concho Lake. There was Jamie, Jeff and Joseph, Sam and Seth and Sid and Jake. | |
| 24424 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 146 | Laurie Wagner Buyer | Horseback, Through Snow | Horseback, through snow, my great-hearted husband leads the way the day after Thanksgiving | |
| 24425 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 147 | Evelyn Mellard | You Ride Away | I watached you ride Away this morning, Following you Beyond my sight With field glasses. | |
| 24426 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 148 | Elizabeth Ebert | Cowboy Courtin' Time | When Romen went courtin' He climbed a balcony, And some men serenade you Upon their bended knee. | |
| 24427 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 150 | Carol Oxley | Little Duck | When we take vacations from the ranch, We usually take to the hills; Packing and camping just for fun Is the way we look for our thrills. | |
| 24428 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 153 | Rhoda Sivell | They Keep A-Stealing On You In The Night | When you think you have forgotten, And have lived the feelings down, And have shoved the best that's in you out of sight; You don't trouble in the daytime | |
| 24429 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 154 | Jo Becksted | The Cattleman's Prayer | God, as You know, I am a cattleman With quite a spread of cows and land. And tho' I proudly say, "These cows are mine," And that "my fence is on that line," I realize these things I own, When all is said, are just a loan. | |
| 24430 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 156 | Deanna Dickinson McCall | Ridin' | Have you ever had to bundle up and ride When it was way too cold to be outside? It was your pardner who kept you alive When you wanted to lay in the snow and die. | |
| 24431 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 157 | Carmel Randle | The Darkest Hour | Another sultry summer's day has shuffled to the west As I slip into a squatter's chair to snatch a moment's rest. | |
| 24432 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 162 | Rhonda Sedgwick Stearns | Livin' Free | Just me, a horse, my dog and the wind Ride to earn our daily fee. Hard life, perhaps, but we love it, 'cause We're really living free. | |
| 24433 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 164 | Carole Jarvis | The First Sure Signs Of Spring | Out where the open prairie spreads wide and the wind makes sagebrush sing, The snow has pulled back to the hills. It's the first sure sign of spring. | |
| 24434 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 166 | Barney Nelson | An Old Monarch | I'd unsaddled my ol' pony and turned him out to graze. He'd given me some trouble, hadn't rode him in several days. | |
| 24435 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 167 | Peggy Godfrey | Real Wealth | My neighbors don't live close to me But we've each got our niche Government says this area's poor Our secret is: we're rich. | |
| 24436 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 169 | Jo Casteel | Sure Am Lucky | Labor Day is over And the day was darn sure fun, We jawed some with our neighbors, And danced when day was done. | |
| 24437 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 170 | Doris Daley | 100 Years From Now | 100 years from now, if the world's still in the game, May the earth recall our footprints, may the wind sing out our names. | |
| 24438 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 173 | Jo Casteel | The Silence | I stopped atop a hill Just for a moment, Pake and me, And heard the muted silence Of the land that sets me free. | |
| 24439 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 174 | Audrey Hankins | Wrong Road | Fed up with owners Wearing out a dream In the short span Of four or five years | |
| 24440 | Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin' | Virginia Bennett | FC 11 B-69 | 176 | Sharlot Hall | Man-Sized Job | "Wimmin's bizness, it's to cook, Keep th' house a-goin', See th' pigs an' chickens fed, Do a little hoein' |