those wild western heroes: 2
medicine paint Catlin
who broke from them all; his wife, his parents,
to set up an easel for Lewis & Clark
and have an opportunity to view Plains Indians
'in their natural simplicity and beauty.'
beautiful Catlin
determined that the whole world see the American west
most thrilling scene he'd ever seen: meeting Comanches!
and he wanted us to see how thrilling!
but
interested not the public
the government
in his collection left rotting away.
no interest they in garnering sympathy
for the race they would destroy.
for the paint brush that brought a generation
visual impressions of the American west
who lays in Brooklyn's greenwood cemetery
with black moccasin spirit defending his tomb
from ugly Parkman who liked his pictures,
wrote the Oregon Trail
followed by thousands,
and ended America.
