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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THEY ACCUSE ME OF NOT TALKING, by HAYDEN CARRUTH Poet's Biography
First Line: North people known for silence. Long
Last Line: And the relentless futility of the real?
Subject(s): Eskimos; Native Americans; Inuit; Indians Of America; American Indians; Indians Of South America
First Line: North people known for silence. Long
Last Line: And the relentless futility of the real?
Subject(s): Eskimos; Native Americans; Inuit; Indians Of America; American Indians; Indians Of South America
North people known for silence. Long
dark of winter. Norrland families go
months without talking, Eskimos also,
except bursts of sporadic eerie song.
South people different. Right and wrong
all crystal there and they squabble, no
fears, though they praise north silence. "Ho,"
they say, "look at them deep thinkers, them strong
philosophical types, men of peace."
But take
notice please of what happens. Winter on the brain.
You're literate, so words are what you feel.
Then you're struck dumb. To which love can you speak
the words that mean dying and going insane
and the relentless futility of the real?
Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA
98368-0271, www.cc.press.org
Other Poems of Interest...
GHOSTS AT KE SON by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN
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
AMERICAN INDIAN ART: FORM AND TRADITION by DIANE DI PRIMA
ELEGY TO THE SIOUX by NORMAN DUBIE
I'VE NEVER SEEN SUCH A REAL HARD TIME BEFORE' by HAYDEN CARRUTH