POETRY OF THE AMERICAN WEST

fa ALISON HAW THORNE DEMING

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS # JVew CONTENTS # Preface: What the Land Has Inspired xv Acknowledgments xvn

Nahuatl Flower Songs i NEZAHUALCOYOTL (1402-1472) Flower Songs 1 NAHUATL (SIXTEENTH CENTURY) Song for the Festival of Tlaloc, the Rain God 3 CACAMATZIN (1494-1530) My Friends 5 NAHUATL (SIXTEENTH CENTURY) Elegy 7

GASPAR PiREZ DE VILLAGRA (C. 1555-1620) from History of New Mexico 9

PHILIP FRENEAU (1752-1832) On the Civilization of the Western Aboriginal Country 13

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT (1794-1878) The Prairies 16

ELIZA R. SNOW (1804-1887) Song of the Desert 21

WALT WHITMAN (1819-1892) Pioneers! O Pioneers! 24 The Prairie-Grass Dividing 30 Night on the Prairies 30 Facing West from California's Shores 31

JOHN ROLLIN RIDGE (YELLOW BIRD, 1827-1867) A Cherokee Love Song 3 3 The Stolen White Girl 34 Contents f| BRET HARTE (1836-1902) vi Plain Language from Truthful fames 36 The Society Upon the Stanislaus 39

JOAQUIN MILLER (1837-1913) Pilgrims of the Plains 41

INA COOLBRITH (1841-1928) Longing 46 The Captive of the White City 47

American Indian Songs (Late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century) HOPI Song of Creation 52 ZUNI Invocation to the U'wannami (Rain-Makers) 53 TEWA Song of the Sky Loom 56 CHIRICAHUA APACHE Song for Girls' Puberty Rites 56 PIMA Datura Hunting Song 57 TETON SIOUX Wolf Song 58 CHEYENNE The Death Song of White Antelope 59 KWAKIUTL Prayer to the Black Bear 59 Prayer to the Sockeye Salmon 60 Healing Prayer to the Salmon-Berry Vines 61 Warsong of the Kwakiutl 62 TOHONO O'ODHAM (PAPAGO) War Songs 62 TOHONO O'ODHAM: OWL WOMAN Healing Songs 64 ARAPAHO Ghost Dance Songs 66 NAVAJO from The Night Chant 69

EDWIN MARKHAM (1852-1940) The Man with the Hoe 75 In Death Valley • 77

MARY AUSTIN (1868-1934) The Grass on the Mountain 79 Song of a Man About to Die in a Strange Land 80 Song of the Maverick 80

FRANK BIRD LINDERMAN (1869-1938) Cabins 82

SHARLOT MABRIDTH HALL (1870-1943) Poppies of Wickenburg 84 Boot Hill 85

WILLA CATHER (1876-1947) Spanish Johnny 87 Prairie Spring - 88 Macon Prairie 90

WITTER BYNNER (1881-1968) Snake Dance 93

JOHN G. NEIHARDT (1881-1973) from "The Song of the Indian Wars" 95

CHARLES BADGER CLARK JR. (1883-1957) The Plainsmen 99 Contents jfe D. H. LAWRENCE (1885-1930) viii Men in New Mexico 102

HAZEL HALL (1886-1924) The Listening Macaws 106 White Day's Death 107 Late Sewing 107 For a Broken Needle 108

STANLEY VESTAL (1887-1956) Kit Carson's Last Smoke 109

ROBINSON JEFFERS (1887-1962) Rock and Hawk 112 The Purse-Seine 113 The Coast-Road 114 Vulture 116

GWENDOLEN HASTE (1889- ) from Montana Wives 116

THOMAS HORNSBY FERRIL (1896-1988) The Empire Sofa 118 Time of Mountains 119 Blue-Stemmed Grass • 122

JANET LEWIS (1899- ) A Grandmother Remembers 123 Snail Garden 123

YVOR WINTERS (1900-1968) John Sutter 125 To the Holy Spirit 128 Contents ANONYMOUS (c. 1908) 0 Cow Boy's Lament 130 ix Educated Feller 131 California Trail 133

ANONYMOUS (EARLY 1900s) El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez 135

THEODORE ROETHKE (1908-1963) Moss-Gathering • 138 Meditation at Oyster River 138 In a Dark Time 141

CZESLAW MILOSZ (1911- ) To Robinson Jeffers 142 It Was Winter 144

MAY SWENSON (1913-1989) Bison Crossing Near Mt. Rushmore 146 Weather 147

WILLIAM STAFFORD (1914-1993) Montana Eclogue 150 Allegiances 154

THOMAS MCGRATH (1916-1990) from "Letter to an Imaginary Friend" 155

DENISE LEVERTOV (1923- ) What It Could Be 161 Settling 163 Presence 163 Open Secret 164 Contents || RICHARD HUGO (1923-1982) x Montana Ranch Abandoned 165 What Thou Lovest Well Remains American 167 Brief History' 169

JOHN HAINES (1924- ) There Are No Such Trees in Alpine, California 170 The Eye in the Rock 171

CAROLYN KIZER (1925- ) from Running Away from Home 173

DAVID WAGONER (1926- ] Lost 177 Breaking Camp 177 Meeting a Bear 178

ALLEN GINSBERG (1926- ) Sunflower Sutra ' 181

PHILIP LEVINE (1928- ) Waking in March 183 Snails 184

ADRIENNE RICH (1929- ] from An Atlas of the Difficult World 186

GARY SNYDER (1930- ) Mid-August at Sourdough Mountain Lookout 191 Piute Creek 192 I Went Into the Maverick Bar 193

JOSE MONTOYA (1932- ) from Faces at the First Farmworkers Constitutional Convention 194 Contents RICHARD SHELTON (1933- ) #

Sonora for Sale 202 xi Because the Moon Comes 203

N. SCOTT MOMADAY (1934- ) The Delight Song of Tsoai-talee 204 The Colors of Night 205

GEORGE KEITHLEY (1935- ] from The Donner Party 207

LUCILLE CLIFTON (1936- ) crazy horse names his daughter 210 crazy horse instructs the young men but in their grief they forget 210 the message of crazy horse 211

LAWSON FUSAO INADA (1938- ) From Our Album 212 Concentration Constellation 217

JAMES WELCH (1940- ) Harlem, Montana: Just off the Reservation 219 Christmas Comes to Moccasin Flat 221

JON ANDERSON (1940- ) Rosebud 222

LORNA DEE CERVANTES (1940- ) Freeway 280 225 Colorado Blvd. 226

SIMON ORTIZ (1941- ) A Story of How a Wall Stands 228 Canyon de Chelly 230 ROBERT HASS (1941- ) Palo Alto: The Marshes 233 Spring Rain 237

PAT MORA (1942- ) La Migra 239

TESS GALLAGHER (1943- ) Woodcutting on Lost Mountain 241

DAVID LEE (1944- ) Behold 249 Racehogs 250

W. S. DI PIERO (1945- ) San Antonio de Padua 251 Ice Plant in Bloom 254

ADRIAN C. LOUIS (1946- ) Indian College Blues 256

LINDA HOGAN (1947- ) Bear Fat 258 Map 259

AI (1947- ) The Testimony of J. Robert Oppenheimer 261

GREG PAPE (1947- ) Indian Ruins Along Rio de Flag 265 Making a Great Space Small 266

JUAN FELIPE HERRERA (1948- ) Mission Street Manifesto 268 JOHN DANIEL (1948- ) # To Mt. St. Helens 269 xiii Moment 272

LYNN EMANUEL (1949- ) What Ely Was 273 The Planet Krypton 273

JAMES GALVIN (1951- ) Western Civilization 275

PAUL ZARZYSKI (1951- ) Trespasses 281 Silos 282

JOY HARJO (1951- ) Sonata for the Invisible 283 Perhaps the World Ends Here 284

JIMMY SANTIAGO BACA I1952- ) Invasions 285

GARY SOTO (1954- ) The Elements of San Joaquin 288

OFELIA ZEPEDA (1954- | People on Wayward Journeys 293 Kitchen Sink 294

BENJAMIN ALIRE SAENZ (1954- ) Resurrections 295

MARILYN CHIN (1955- ) How I Got That Name 297 Contents || CAMPBELL MCGRATH (1962- ) xiv Wheatfield Under Clouded Sky 301 James Wright, Richard Hugo, the Vanishing Forests of the Pacific Northwest 303

SHERMAN ALEXIE (1966- ) The Business of Fancydancing 306

Source Notes 309 Index of Authors 313 Index of Titles and First Lines 315