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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
IN PRAISE OF NECESSITY, by THOMAS MCGRATH Poet's Biography First Line: Nostalgia of old men Last Line: That makes dead meat of the years Subject(s): Genocide; Native Americans; Progress; Indians Of America; American Indians; Indians Of South America | |||
Nostalgia of old men, That spends itself in the sun Hunting the vanished Sioux Or shooting the buffalo down, Is ground-rent to the Past, Shafts of whose vanquished years Pierce all decadent men To envenom new-born desires. Thus the blind demands of the heart Are thwarted by out-lived lives -- The Wise Man's experience is The wisdom of killing the tribes. How could it be otherwise? All that's alive in the Past Fastens itself on death, Since to live is to change. Turned ghost It is clothed in the future and us -- Not bound, traditional men Remembering ritual words Learned when their meaning was gone. Shamans around a fire Where tired Ghost Dancers sway Pray back the lost buffalo herds -- Words for a vanished age. Then praise the hunters, who Through yesterday's cold camps (Where banked-up spirit-fires, Ice-flamed, will warm no hand) Advance to break new trail Impatient of the meaningless dreams of legend herds, Words of the old men; And praise necessity That frees the past of its snares, Praising the killer heart That makes dead meat of the years. Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368-0271, www.cc.press.org | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE OLD INDIAN by ARTHUR STANLEY BOURINOT SCHOLARLY PROCEDURE by JOSEPHINE MILES ONE LAST DRAW OF THE PIPE by PAUL MULDOON THE INDIANS ON ALCATRAZ by PAUL MULDOON PARAGRAPHS: 9 by HAYDEN CARRUTH THEY ACCUSE ME OF NOT TALKING by HAYDEN CARRUTH AMERICAN INDIAN ART: FORM AND TRADITION by DIANE DI PRIMA ODE FOR THE AMERICAN DEAD IN ASIA by THOMAS MCGRATH |
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