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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26193 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 55 | Linda Hussa | Gentleman | Pa came in from doin' morning chores. The chicken house door was open and all the hens were gone. He looked until | pay, hens, poor, old lady | |
| 26194 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 56 | Linda Hussa | Death Came Riding | His fork smashed down against the saddle fork rising. Forgetting turns. Forgetting doors. Forgetting faces. | respect, whisker, razor, soap | |
| 26195 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 57 | Linda Hussa | Coming Home On The Reno Train | Two washin' machines waitin' on the back porch in the snow. The kids said a man delivered 'em for Mom to try. Easywash | laundry, Flat, horse, fence | |
| 26196 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 58 | Linda Hussa | Christmas On Ralston Hill | After Pa died some folks from the Elks came to our house. Of course when Mom opened the door we all pushed around | basket, food, family, mistake | |
| 26197 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 59 | Linda Hussa | Trapline | One winter fur was high. Lige trapped bobcats and coyotes, lured them on the jaws of the iron trap buried in the dirt. | track, blood, naive, traps, bait | |
| 26198 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 60 | Linda Hussa | Pearly Everlasting | The cabin windows steamed with Francine cleaning. From the barn Lige heard the door bang and bang | Newly-weds, day work, Presser Foot, Sunkist, final blow, nasty, breathless | |
| 26199 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 64 | Linda Hussa | Desert Ranch Story | You might think, Oh, this is a horse story. I've read this before. But it's not. It's a story about a man who rode | fox, smell, rope, love | |
| 26200 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 66 | Linda Hussa | Eagleville Dance | Whenever they had a dance in Eagleville the place would be just packed till you couldn't hardly wiggle and | brawl, Lige Langston, song, Star Spangle Banner | |
| 26201 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 67 | Linda Hussa | Badger Camp | A man in camp cooks different than a woman- more grease poppin' and a dust of flour your boots track | stove, coffee, bacon, plate | |
| 26202 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 68 | Linda Hussa | Man To Man | Lige was always a gentleman, even when there was just men around. Never said anything off color. But one time | saddle, pants, unemployed | |
| 26203 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 69 | Linda Hussa | For Forty Years | she ranted like a sow when he threw his saddle in the pickup latigo and cinches laping over the side | gate, churchyard, resentment, tears | |
| 26204 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 70 | Linda Hussa | Hooves Of Horses | Between Miller & Lux Spring and Horse Canyon twisted in the brush, the hooves of a horse still attached | cloud, Asia, unstoppable, palm | |
| 26205 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 73 | Linda Hussa | The Town Gossip | prose | ||
| 26206 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 74 | Linda Hussa | C Section On The Barn Floor | You know. When you fit the chains around the tips of hoove, slick, slimy tissue torn where the hoove have presented | stainless, heavey, fluid, ribs, calf | |
| 26207 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 77 | Linda Hussa | Resting | I could not bear the dirt clods broken apart one from the other angry, wholly forlorn. It was not the fertile ground | drill, meadow, grave, rose | |
| 26208 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 81 | Linda Hussa | Quiet Land | We who are content living scattered We who have grown used to the tension of the wind We who lift our | seeds, freezing, shelter, remembrance, journey | |
| 26209 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 82 | Linda Hussa | Swans | I let the swans float gently on the blue gray sheen of the lake though my secret wish is to be among them | feathers, wings, sky, water, earth | |
| 26210 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 83 | Linda Hussa | Gold Mustard | Oh! we were in a hurry that day the list was long I rushed beside you in silence Chores before dawn horses | barn, smiles, gate, womb, dirt | |
| 26211 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 85 | Linda Hussa | The Field Of The Owls | Today we gathered the heifers from the hot springs field. Only a few hundred acres, but a maze of hot bogs | snow, hay, barn, noodles, cows | |
| 26212 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 86 | Linda Hussa | Drought | In the midnight she woke. It was not the window rattling against dry putty or wind pulling and sucking | stove, deep, ache, trees, land, pond, rain | |
| 26213 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 87 | Linda Hussa | Playing At Doctor | Poor old broken legged ewe, the flop of it wrings my stomach, the grate climbs my spine like a stair. | leg, scan, blame, hooves | |
| 26214 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 88 | Linda Hussa | On The Raft Of This Day | Sometimes I come up against it flattened like a moth outside a window wanting in where the light is. | glare, union, geese, spring | |
| 26215 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 89 | Linda Hussa | In The Evenig Autumn | As I rode out to check cows calving the light came across the meadwo low soft and in it | blanket, cobwebs, breeze, army, spiders | |
| 26216 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 90 | Linda Hussa | The Cure | I prescribe you this- go to the desert high or low, cold or hammer of Hell shed the clothes of care strip down | time, safe, silver, rest, earth | |
| 26217 | Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields | FC 11 H-56 | 91 | Linda Hussa | First-calf Heifer | Lying flat resting between heavves of labor's force glaring over her shoulder at me suspicious of me | guilty, labor, skull |