WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.470 align:middle line:90%


00:00:01.470 --> 00:00:04.080 align:middle line:84%
And this last poem is
called Harlem Montana--

00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:07.440 align:middle line:90%
Just Off the Reservation.

00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:10.080 align:middle line:84%
The reservation is the
Fort Belknap Reservation

00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:11.340 align:middle line:90%
where my folks live.

00:00:11.340 --> 00:00:14.110 align:middle line:90%


00:00:14.110 --> 00:00:17.890 align:middle line:84%
And Harlem is one of those
towns just off the reservation

00:00:17.890 --> 00:00:23.980 align:middle line:84%
that almost everybody knows
about how bigoted and racist

00:00:23.980 --> 00:00:30.460 align:middle line:84%
it is and how they
always welcome Indians

00:00:30.460 --> 00:00:34.300 align:middle line:84%
to come spend their money
there, but not to really

00:00:34.300 --> 00:00:37.100 align:middle line:90%
be part of the community.

00:00:37.100 --> 00:00:39.980 align:middle line:84%
So that's the kind
of town Harlem is.

00:00:39.980 --> 00:00:40.480 align:middle line:90%
Let's see.

00:00:40.480 --> 00:00:41.710 align:middle line:90%
There are no references.

00:00:41.710 --> 00:00:44.170 align:middle line:84%
There's one reference
to Hutterites here.

00:00:44.170 --> 00:00:47.530 align:middle line:90%
They're a religious group.

00:00:47.530 --> 00:00:49.840 align:middle line:84%
They live in colonies
throughout Montana

00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:53.560 align:middle line:90%
and other places in the West.

00:00:53.560 --> 00:00:55.180 align:middle line:90%
There's one north of Harlem.

00:00:55.180 --> 00:00:58.600 align:middle line:84%
And people don't like them,
because they're good farmers,

00:00:58.600 --> 00:01:01.900 align:middle line:90%
and they've got good equipment.

00:01:01.900 --> 00:01:05.950 align:middle line:84%
And people think they're kind
of funny, kind of eccentric,

00:01:05.950 --> 00:01:09.400 align:middle line:84%
because they live alone
without much contact

00:01:09.400 --> 00:01:10.780 align:middle line:90%
with the outside world.

00:01:10.780 --> 00:01:17.380 align:middle line:84%
And they don't pay taxes,
which really makes people mad.

00:01:17.380 --> 00:01:19.960 align:middle line:84%
So that's the only
reference in this poem

00:01:19.960 --> 00:01:22.330 align:middle line:90%
that you might need to know.

00:01:22.330 --> 00:01:24.100 align:middle line:90%
We need no runners here.

00:01:24.100 --> 00:01:26.710 align:middle line:84%
Booze is law, and
all the Indians

00:01:26.710 --> 00:01:28.570 align:middle line:90%
drink in the best tavern.

00:01:28.570 --> 00:01:31.060 align:middle line:84%
Money is free if
you're poor enough.

00:01:31.060 --> 00:01:33.790 align:middle line:84%
Disgusted, busted
whites are running

00:01:33.790 --> 00:01:35.770 align:middle line:90%
for office in this town.

00:01:35.770 --> 00:01:39.040 align:middle line:84%
The constable, a
local farmer, plants

00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:43.390 align:middle line:84%
the jail with wild, raven-haired
stiffs who beg just one more

00:01:43.390 --> 00:01:44.260 align:middle line:90%
drink.

00:01:44.260 --> 00:01:48.010 align:middle line:84%
One drunk, a former
Methodist, becomes a saint

00:01:48.010 --> 00:01:51.400 align:middle line:84%
in the Indian church,
bugs the plaster man

00:01:51.400 --> 00:01:53.500 align:middle line:90%
on the cross with snakes.

00:01:53.500 --> 00:01:56.530 align:middle line:84%
If his knuckles broke,
he'd see those women

00:01:56.530 --> 00:01:58.840 align:middle line:90%
wail the graves goodbye.

00:01:58.840 --> 00:02:02.050 align:middle line:84%
Goodbye, goodbye,
Harlem on the rocks,

00:02:02.050 --> 00:02:04.930 align:middle line:84%
so bigoted you forget
the latest joke.

00:02:04.930 --> 00:02:08.229 align:middle line:84%
So lonely you'd welcome
a battalion of Turks

00:02:08.229 --> 00:02:09.669 align:middle line:90%
to rule your women.

00:02:09.669 --> 00:02:11.860 align:middle line:84%
What you don't know,
what you will never

00:02:11.860 --> 00:02:13.780 align:middle line:90%
know or want to learn--

00:02:13.780 --> 00:02:15.280 align:middle line:90%
Turks aren't white.

00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:19.600 align:middle line:84%
Turks are olive, unwelcome,
alive in any town.

00:02:19.600 --> 00:02:22.120 align:middle line:84%
Turks would use
your one dingy park

00:02:22.120 --> 00:02:24.160 align:middle line:90%
to declare a need for loot.

00:02:24.160 --> 00:02:29.860 align:middle line:84%
Turks say bring it, step
quickly, laid down and dead.

00:02:29.860 --> 00:02:31.810 align:middle line:90%
Here we are when men were nice.

00:02:31.810 --> 00:02:35.530 align:middle line:84%
This photo, hung in the
New England hotel lobby,

00:02:35.530 --> 00:02:39.700 align:middle line:84%
shows them nicer than pie,
agreeable to the warring bands

00:02:39.700 --> 00:02:42.340 align:middle line:84%
of redskins who
demanded protection

00:02:42.340 --> 00:02:44.800 align:middle line:90%
money for the price of food.

00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:48.220 align:middle line:84%
Now only Hutterites
out north are nice.

00:02:48.220 --> 00:02:49.580 align:middle line:90%
We hate them.

00:02:49.580 --> 00:02:52.420 align:middle line:84%
They are tough, and their
crops are always good.

00:02:52.420 --> 00:02:57.760 align:middle line:84%
We accuse them of idiocy and
believe their belief all wrong.

00:02:57.760 --> 00:03:00.610 align:middle line:90%
Harlem, your hotel is overnamed.

00:03:00.610 --> 00:03:02.770 align:middle line:90%
Your children are raggedy-assed.

00:03:02.770 --> 00:03:04.120 align:middle line:90%
But you go on.

00:03:04.120 --> 00:03:07.090 align:middle line:84%
Survive the bad food
from the two cafes,

00:03:07.090 --> 00:03:10.840 align:middle line:84%
and peddle your hate for the
wild who bring you money.

00:03:10.840 --> 00:03:13.750 align:middle line:84%
When you die, if
you die, will you

00:03:13.750 --> 00:03:18.100 align:middle line:84%
remember the three young bucks
who shot the grocery up, locked

00:03:18.100 --> 00:03:22.990 align:middle line:84%
themselves in, and cried for
days, "We're rich, help us.

00:03:22.990 --> 00:03:26.260 align:middle line:90%
Oh, God, we're rich."

00:03:26.260 --> 00:03:26.800 align:middle line:90%
Thank you.

00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:28.900 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:03:28.900 --> 00:03:38.800 align:middle line:90%


00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:40.950 align:middle line:90%
Thank you very much.

00:03:40.950 --> 00:03:50.000 align:middle line:90%