THE HOMESTEAD ACT photo: "Patterson Pass" by Tim Goodman
Over the horizon
comes the blush of light and emptiness.
Sixteen schooners spit mud from their wheels
as opportunity releases the stitches
between land and sea.
It is morning.
It is to be born.
It is to shoulder the weight of your body.
1862.
With the precision of a machine
the Indians become the unconscious.
From St. Joe to South Pass is the belly.
We've entered it.
Riffraff and voyageurs
leaking from Europe
like spirits touching their toe to the dead.
Roll wheel. March to the body.
Raise up the flag.
