Wednesday, December 4, 2013

A Poem: Stephen Burt, "Indian Stream Republic" (2013)

Stephen Burt, a professor of English at Harvard, has written a poem titled "Indian Stream Republic" (2013):

No one should be this alone--
none of the pines
in their prepotent verticals,

none of the unseen
hunters or blundering moose
who might stop by the empty lodge or the lake

as blue as if there had never been people
although there are people: a few
at the general store, and evidence of more

in clean vinyl siding, and down the extended street
a ruddy steel pole the height of a child, its plaque
remembering a place called Liberty

at Indian Stream, 1832-35,
between the disputed boundaries
of Canada and New Hampshire, meant
as temporary, almost
content to remain its own.
Each household, their constitution said, could possess

one cow, one hog, one gun,
books, bedding and hay, seven sheep and their wool, secure
from attachment for debt no matter the cause.

The state militia came to set them right.
The legerdemain of the noon sun through needles and leaves,
revealing almost nothing, falls across

thin shadows, thin trace of American wheels and hands
for such high soil and such short reward:
the people . . . do hereby mutually agree

to form themselves into a body politic
by the name of Indian Stream, and in that capacity
to exercise all the powers of a sovereign
till such time as we can ascertain to what
government we properly belong.









No one should be this alone— none of the pines in their prepotent verticals, none of the unseen hunters or blundering moose who might stop by the empty lodge or the lake as blue as if there had never been people although there are people: a few at the general store, and evidence of more in clean vinyl siding, and down the extended street a ruddy steel pole the height of a child, its plaque remembering a place called Liberty at Indian Stream, 1832-35, between the disputed boundaries of Canada and New Hampshire, meant as temporary, almost content to remain its own. Each household, their constitution said, could possess one cow, one hog, one gun, books, bedding and hay, seven sheep and their wool, secure from attachment for debt no matter the cause. The state militia came to set them right. The legerdemain of the noon sun through needles and leaves, revealing almost nothing, falls across thin shadows, thin trace of American wheels and hands for such high soil and such short reward: the people... do hereby mutually agree to form themselves into a body politic by the name of Indian Stream, and in that capacity to exercise all the powers of a sovereign till such time as we can ascertain to what government we properly belong. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/23543#sthash.slw57nGY.dpuf
No one should be this alone— none of the pines in their prepotent verticals, none of the unseen hunters or blundering moose who might stop by the empty lodge or the lake as blue as if there had never been people although there are people: a few at the general store, and evidence of more in clean vinyl siding, and down the extended street a ruddy steel pole the height of a child, its plaque remembering a place called Liberty at Indian Stream, 1832-35, between the disputed boundaries of Canada and New Hampshire, meant as temporary, almost content to remain its own. Each household, their constitution said, could possess one cow, one hog, one gun, books, bedding and hay, seven sheep and their wool, secure from attachment for debt no matter the cause. The state militia came to set them right. The legerdemain of the noon sun through needles and leaves, revealing almost nothing, falls across thin shadows, thin trace of American wheels and hands for such high soil and such short reward: the people... do hereby mutually agree to form themselves into a body politic by the name of Indian Stream, and in that capacity to exercise all the powers of a sovereign till such time as we can ascertain to what government we properly belong. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/23543#sthash.slw57nGY.dpuf
No one should be this alone— none of the pines in their prepotent verticals, none of the unseen hunters or blundering moose who might stop by the empty lodge or the lake as blue as if there had never been people although there are people: a few at the general store, and evidence of more in clean vinyl siding, and down the extended street a ruddy steel pole the height of a child, its plaque remembering a place called Liberty at Indian Stream, 1832-35, between the disputed boundaries of Canada and New Hampshire, meant as temporary, almost content to remain its own. Each household, their constitution said, could possess one cow, one hog, one gun, books, bedding and hay, seven sheep and their wool, secure from attachment for debt no matter the cause. The state militia came to set them right. The legerdemain of the noon sun through needles and leaves, revealing almost nothing, falls across thin shadows, thin trace of American wheels and hands for such high soil and such short reward: the people... do hereby mutually agree to form themselves into a body politic by the name of Indian Stream, and in that capacity to exercise all the powers of a sovereign till such time as we can ascertain to what government we properly belong. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/23543#sthash.slw57nGY.dpuf
No one should be this alone— none of the pines in their prepotent verticals, none of the unseen hunters or blundering moose who might stop by the empty lodge or the lake as blue as if there had never been people although there are people: a few at the general store, and evidence of more in clean vinyl siding, and down the extended street a ruddy steel pole the height of a child, its plaque remembering a place called Liberty at Indian Stream, 1832-35, between the disputed boundaries of Canada and New Hampshire, meant as temporary, almost content to remain its own. Each household, their constitution said, could possess one cow, one hog, one gun, books, bedding and hay, seven sheep and their wool, secure from attachment for debt no matter the cause. The state militia came to set them right. The legerdemain of the noon sun through needles and leaves, revealing almost nothing, falls across thin shadows, thin trace of American wheels and hands for such high soil and such short reward: the people... do hereby mutually agree to form themselves into a body politic by the name of Indian Stream, and in that capacity to exercise all the powers of a sovereign till such time as we can ascertain to what government we properly belong. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/23543#sthash.slw57nGY.dpuf

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