"Ride Off Any Horizon," John Newlove

"Ride Off Any Horizon"

(John Newlove)

Ride off any horizon

and let the measure fall

where it may--

on the hot wheat,

on the dark yellow fields

of wild mustard, the fields

of bad farmers, on the river,

on the dirty river full

of boys and on the throbbing

powerhouse and the low dam

of cheap cement and rocks

boiling with white water,

and on the cows and their powerful

bulls, the heavy tracks

filling with liquid at the edge

of the narrow prairie

river running steadily away.

*

Ride off any horizon

and let the measure fall

where it may--

among the piles of bones

that dot the prairie

in vision and history

(the buffalo and deer,

dead indians, dead settlers,

the frames of lost houses

left behind in the dust

of the depression,

dry and profound, that

will come again in the land

and in the spirit, the land

shifting and the minds

blown dry and empty--

I have not seen it! Except

in pictures and talk--

but there is the fence

covered with dust, laden,

the wrecked house stupidly empty)--

here is a picture for your wallet,

of the beaten farmer and his wife

leaning toward each other--

sadly smiling, and emptied of desire.

*

Ride off any horizon

and let the measure fall

where it may--

off the edge

of the black prairie

as you thought you could fall,

a boy at sunset

not watching the sun

set but watching the black earth,

never-ending they said in school,

round: but you saw it ending,

finished, definite, precise--

visible only miles away.

*

Ride off any horizon

and let the measure fall

where it may--

on a hot night the town

is in the streets--

the boys and girls

are practicing against

each other, the men

talk and eye the girls--

the women talk and

eye each other, the indians

play pool: eye on the ball.

*

Ride off any horizon

and let the measure fall

where it may--

and damn the troops, the horsemen

are wheeling in the sunshine,

the cree, practicing

for their deaths: mr poundmaker,

gentle sweet mr big bear,

it is not unfortunately

quite enough to be innocent,

it is not enough merely

not to offend--

at times to be born

is enough, to be

in the way is too much--

some colonel otter, some

major-general middleton will

get you, you--

indian. It is no god to say,

I would rather die

at once than be in that place--

though you love that land more,

you will go where they take you.

*

Ride off any horizon

and let the measure fall--

where it may;

it doesn't have to be

the prairie. It could be

the cold soul of the cities

blown empty by commerce

and desiring commerce

to fill up the emptiness.

The streets are full of people.

It is night, the lights

are on; the wind

blows as far as it may. The streets

are dark and full of people.

Their eyes are fixed as far as

they can see beyond each other--

to the concrete horizon, definite,

tall against the mountains,

stopping vision visibly.

"Ride Off Any Horizon" appeared in Poetries of Canada, a special poetry section in the East Village Poetry Web. John Newlove (1938-2003) was born and raised in Saskatchewan. His work includes Lies (1975),The Green Plain (1981), The Night the Dog Smiled (1986), and a collection, A Long Continual Argument: The Selected Poems of John Newlove (2007).