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The Americana Poems, Volume 1For Stuart M. Lake, Alfred Newman, Cyril
Mockridge and John Ford
Life, like the movies sometimes, is in black and white.
— Turner Classic Movies
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PROLOGUE
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IN THE HIGH CLOUDLESS AFTERNOON
Jessie James Frank James Cole Younger the Dalton boys riding
for their niggers mama waitin at the stove Gettysburg Lee signin’ away
the living the dead the southern rights James boys Frank James Cole Younger the Dalton boys
in leg irons and ballads robbing banks long riders of the grasslands
on the rolling hills the Virginia men the Kentucky riders comin’
the men of the south bank robbers horsemen kickin’ up the ground the dust
the grass the blue grass riders of the good rebel Jessie James a wanted poster breaking the law
(like the north did the south) in the sun the bright cloudless afternoon come the long riders
the brothers of the south soldier boys good ol’ boy in grey work pants patched shirts chewing and spittin’
gun “pow! pow! pow!” bankers and side winders deputies and general store bartenders with the good
whiskey ’neath the counter pow pow from the good ol’ boys raising hell for themselves the south
they shoot into the air and trees lift beer cans off the fence post shatter shot glasses kill for money in the cash draw the strong box
in the knee cap in his god damn self righteous nigger loving head for singin’ his truth is marching on
for the farm and all things free as air and the grass of the west
the bottom lands of Alvin York the hunger and the drought that is theirs and theirs alone
They have come to Town handkerchiefs up gun ready
drunk saddle sore tramps some long in the tooth riders the hard men the wild bunch ex rebels
they have come whiskered and gay six shooting ex cow punchers on Sunday
to this Texas Mexican town men in dusters they have come fleeing the rope
in the high cloudless afternoon |
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GOING TO FORT APACHE
Old timers spit (up the desert)
tobacco into the dust
the miles of mud holes
between Mule Creek
and the fort the coach
is rocking the col.
and his daughter back and forth
bouncing over roads
into the deep shadows
of canyons the sun is
everywhere and the sky
is hot almost
white old timers just spit
and joke about
the rain that never
falls and how the country
is so big you cant steal
enough of it from the Indians |
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TO RIDE THE RIVER WITH
To Chuck “Boom Boom” Heston
Charlton Heston as Will Penny
‘“He can cowboy” Lee Majors in Will Penny
he’s a broke down fifteen a month hard sweatin’ good man
long in the tooth with creakin’ joints catchin’ the morning chill
he’s still a hardcase a top hand in the chow line waitin’ for his biscuits and beans cup of bitter coffee
Will Penny he aint old his days are he’s whipping some fool’s ass with an iron skillet
take that cowpoke from Will Penny puncher for forty years still bustin’ broncs pushin’ fifty
Will Penny’s worth more than his name
1967 Western film directed by Tom Gries |
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COOKIE OR THE PUNCHER’S LAMENT For Walter Brennan
old cowboy have
mercy on young poor wranglers
feeds the outfit thinks only
how much there is
to do keepin’
sweet tooth Will Penny’s
fingers out of the sugar |
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OK CORRAL
Three mean Texas riders cuttin’
a rancher’s fence sun
bakes the ground the yellow grass
three men pass Boot Hill into town
lookin’ for John H. Holliday |
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DOC: A GENTLEMAN OF THE SOUTH
For Frank Perry and Pete Hamill
Doc has eaten nigger food steady with a gun and cutting cards his lungs like the old south are gone John H. (“Doc”) Holliday gentlemanof Tombstone pistol in the vest John whispers Kate may I have this dance |
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DREADFUL SORRY CLEMENTINE
Doc has an Indian woman part Mex
a whore rings in her ears
blouse cut low see the tops
of her tits she’s no lady brown
as the sun makes them women
of the towns and desert full lipped
and hands on her hips
on Doc she’s all woman
Mex. Indian some
white she belongs
to Doc sorry dreadful
sorry Miss Clementine |
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THE LONG HARD RIDE OF JOHN H. (“DOC”) HOLLIDAY INTO THE TERRITORY
after eight hundred miles between cattle towns whores and cards
you can get to know your horse wilderness and grass he is happy
eight hundred miles deep in the territory with the talking smoke |
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HE LOVES HER IN THE FIDDLER’S SONG
Clementine and Wyatt take a walk he tips his hat
she smiles farmers ride into town the church steeple
is up the walls are being raised listen to the fiddler
swing your partners Wyatt smiles and has a dimple
in his cheek tobacco says his brother Virgil
Clementine is blushing Wyatt’s arm is holding her in a dance
like a husband a man come courting
the first night of married life she will not break
but his ands are large feet heavy
he lefts his legs the man with a gun
is awkward like a boy he loves her in the fiddler’s song
the stomping of his feet the whirling of her dress
swing your partner and he does |
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TEACHING THE LONG LEGGED KID A LESSON
Karl Malden as Dad in One-Eyed Jacks
Billy the Kid El Chivale Long-Legged Kid dressed like a greaser shooting in my town
fucking my daughter you got to learn kid how I keep the peace Kid
with a whip my gun and badge I gotta whip the piss the greaser sidewinder shit
and dust the meanness bust your gun hand that killed twenty one men
not countin’ greasers indians and niggers break every bone in your shooting
hand make a worker a farmer a store clerk going to church teaching
school work your ass into the grave it’s better to die like that working the life out of yourself
like a horse like a woman a field hand on your knees kid spread ’em for me Dad One-
Eyed Jack |
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LIVING THE LIFE OF A DIME NOVEL
The marshall kills
a lot of kids these days
dug more graves than an undertaker
keepin’ the law
he’s a starpacker earns his coffee
bullets and pay sitting
on the walk feet up legs
balancing off the hitchin’
post eatin’ dust and takin’
guns of cowhands shooting
and stayin’ in town scarin’ women and children
most men when they come to town
that’s why the marshall’s fillin’ up
boothill livin’ the life
of a dime novel |
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COURT’S IN SESSION
Judge Roy Bean cowboy judge and jury in a bar take off your hat
boots on feet upon the floor no riding into saloons courts in session
whores outside chewing tobacco allowed no spittin' branding cattle ain't your own
talking back to Roy that’s Judge Roy Bean holding you in contempt
stole a horse hanging at noon God rest your unwashed horse thieving soul I sure
don’t whoring on Sunday fine but you keep the noise down
beating your wife tell me one thing son did she step out of line
Walter Brennan in William Wyler’s The Westerner (1940 Western) |
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THERE IS A TREE IN YUMA
The bad cowboy shot clerks drunks nasty cowhands
grinned at frightened woman he meant them no harm
he hated banks he was a crook
with a price on his head handcuffs round his wrist
a farmer led him to town at the end of a rope
he just grinned there aint a tree anywhere
in Yuma with my name on it
Glenn
Ford in 3:10 To Yuma, a
film directed by |
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THE GOOD FARMER
was a dirt poor man working hard living with his wife and son
the drought helping the misery along but this year
he hog tied a rustler with a bounty on his Jayhawking head
and that was better then crops growing good and ready for the table
thank you jesus he thought there is hanging in Yuma
a reward for the outlaw sitting at his table waiting for some grub
before they take the stage and then the 3.10 to Yuma
Van Heflin in 3:10 to Yuma |
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DESTRY
James Stewart in Destry Rides Again
the young deputy’s guns are toys but the weapon
is his mouth he’s a country boy with tall stories a grin
with the badge the whores are pulling hair
throwing slopjars whipping shit off their tits
out of their big blond wigs
for sweet Destry (bet he’s got a cherry) he is so pure
and white little in his pants they call him Mr. Law and Order
and say he is tough enough to drink a glass of milk |
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MOLLY OF THE RAILS
Barbra Stanwyck in Union Pacific* (1954)
Molly moved like the PlainsIndian
the mailcar’s her home on wheels
cuttin’ through the wilderness Molly lass with the Irish tongue
talkin’ about the land and children puttin’ down her feet
in a place all her own Molly with the dinner bucket
(like mother) bucket the ash and sand of the rails
and Plains in her hair Black Irish Molly sunburned and dark
like the men layin’ the track
has slept in tents toiling her way
across the west like a man
she rides these cars like a horse she is Molly
of the Union Pacific Molly of the rails
Molly the conductor’s daughter Molly with the mail
* directed by Cecil B. DeMille |
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A SLAVE IS YOURS (EVEN AFTER DEATH)
Tom Doniphon rancher -- built this country with a gun and slave
found a woman like a homestead
made a claim (she knew his heart
his silences and whores)
his was a love with respect
for a good woman is bible children
and company in the winter
the long cold nights Tom Doniphon said
nothing just came a courting
with a swagger hat in hand
gun within reach there is danger
in little cattle towns and women
kept his mouth shut
hat off respect the home and woman
treat your heroes like cattle
gentle with a firm hand Tom Doniphon
is the backbone of this town
with a handshake and man’s word this is the west
of his grandfather father
and Owen Wister in his coffin
they placed his boots on his feet
combed what was left of his hair he was
dead without a dime no one remembered him
except his nigger and lady with the cactus
rose he loved them both
the women like his horse the nigger better than most
white men he knew friends are far and few
a good slave and woman are yours even after death
John Wayne and Willie Stoud, slave and master, in John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance |
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EPILOGUE
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A PHOTOGRAPH OR TWO BASED ON PHOTOS FROM WISCONSIN DEATH TRIP*
these are the family histories in the box camera the false fronts of main street
the common death of the everyday towns a “Negro” cutting hair in his barbershop
“kiss the flag nigger” so mysterious now
this simple America nobody remembers but tramps living the hard times in freight cars
colored ladies eating oysters siting on chairs in front of their cabins and shacks
talking about a “Negro “farmer beaten by the neighborhood Christians with a poker
* A collection of photographs by Charles Van Schaick, complied by Michael Lesy |
