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from the issue of November 10, 2005
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American Life in Poetry
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE
Descriptions of landscape are common in poetry, but in "Road Report" Kurt Brown adds a twist by writing himself into "cowboy country." He also energizes the poem by using words we associate with the American West: Mustang, cactus, Brahmas. Even his associations - such as comparing the crackling radio to a shattered rib - evoke a sense of place.
Road Report
Driving west through sandstone's
red arenas, a rodeo of slow erosion
cleaves these plains, these ravaged cliffs.
This is cowboy country. Desolate. Dull. Except
on weekends, when cafes bloom like cactus
after drought. My rented Mustang bucks
the wind--I'm strapped up, wide-eyed,
busting speed with both heels, a sure grip
on the wheel. Black clouds maneuver
in the distance, but I don't care. Mileage
is my obsession. I'm always racing off,
passing through, as though the present
were a dying town I'd rather flee.
What matters is the future, its glittering
Hotel. Clouds loom closer, big as Brahmas
in the heavy air. The radio crackles
like a shattered rib. I'm in the chute.
I check the gas and set my jaw. I'm almost there.
Reprinted from "New York Quarterly," No. 59, by permission of the author, whose new book, "Future Ship," is due out this summer from Story Line Press. Poem copyright (c) 2003 by Kurt Brown. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the UNL Department of English. This column does not accept unsolicited poetry.
GO TO: ISSUE OF NOVEMBER 10
ARTS HEADLINES FOR NOVEMBER 10
Sheldon to renew tradition
American Life in Poetry
Film offers soldiers' perspective of Iraq war
Free at 6 features local blues musician
Multi-city film festival plays at the Ross
Olson Seminar examines Kimball and the alumni organ
Transgender film festival Nov. 18
732260S35193X
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