When Winter Come

The Ascension of York

Frank X Walker

• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN:
  9780813191843
  9780813124834
• eBook ISBN:
  9780813138893
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: American Poetry
• Index: Literature

A sequel to the award-winning Buffalo Dance, Frank X Walker's When Winter Come: The Ascension of York is a dramatic reimagining of Lewis and Clark's legendary exploration of the American West. By focusing on the humanity and struggles of York, Clark's slave, When Winter Come challenges conventional views of the journey's heroes and exposes the deeds, both great and ghastly, of the men behind the myth. Grounded in the history of the famous trip, Walker's vibrant account allows York—little more than a forgotten footnote in traditional narratives—to embody the full range of human ability, knowledge, emotion, and experience. He is a skillful hunter who kills his prey with both grace and reverence, and he thinks deeply about the proper place of humans in the natural world. York knows the seasons "like a book," and he "can read moss, sunsets, the moon, and a mare's foaling time with a touch." The Native peoples understand and honor York's innate bond with the earth. Though his expertise is integral to the journey's success, York's masters do not reward him; they know only the way of the lash. The alternately heartbreaking and uplifting poems in When Winter Come are told from multiple perspectives and rendered in vivid detail. On the journey, York forges a spiritual connection and shares sensual delights with a Nez Perce woman, and he aches when he is forced to leave her and their unborn son. Walker's poems capture the profound feelings of love and loss on each side of this ill-fated meeting of souls. When the trek ends and York is sent back to his former home, his wife and stepmother air their joys and grievances. As the perspectives of Lewis, Clark, Sacagawea, and others in the party emerge, Walker also gives voice to York's knife, his hunting shirt, and the river waters that have borne the labors and travels of thousands before and after the Lewis and Clark expedition. Despite fleeting hints that escape is possible, slavery continues to bind York and quell the joyful noise in his spirit until his death. Walker's poems, however, give York his voice after centuries of silence. When Winter Come exalts the historical persona of a slave and lifts the soul of a man. York ascends out of his chains, out of oblivion, and into flight.

Part I

In the Name

In the Name a the Father

Them call the old guide that led us

through the mountains, Toby,

Sacagawea, Janey,

her lil’ Jean Baptiste, Pomp,

an me boy, an worse if it cross they minds.

Them call the beautiful Nimiipuu

Nez Perce though we never seen a pierced nose

in the mountains or plains.

Them give a name to ev’ry stream an place

we come ’cross

even named a group a small islands after me

without ever thinking to ask the people

who lived there if they already had names.

What is it, I wonder

gets in a white man’s head so

that when him look in the mirror

him always see God

but when him look at people

with hair like lambs wool

or feet a burnt brass

him see only devils or chil’ren.

River Like a Snake

How the River Like a Snake

Whoever sees the snake and does not flee, plays with
death.

—Yoruba Proverb

She turn right then left then right again

some time circling ’round to almost where we begin.

She make us dodge sharp trees an rocks

underwater logs an moving sand bottoms.

We pushes an pulls the keelboats an big canoes

the whole day long just to travel a distance

a man can cover on foot in a few minutes.

She put me in mind ova long mean snake

that swallow a pack a field mouses.

An while we trys to find our way out her stomach

she swallow sticks an rocks an enough cold water

to keep us in her belly long enough for us to pass.

My captain an the men laughs at my fear

a the river an my singing her apologies

an prayers at night an while we works

but I know she alive an I know she do all

she can to break our spirits an make the party

change they minds an give up the expedition.

But she don’t know that a company

a rugged men who take well to orders

is as fearless an hard-headed as she is long an deep.

The River Speaks

The River Speaks

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

—Langston Hughes

call me the ohio, the mississippi, or the missoura

call me wood, teton, yellowstone, milk, judith, marias,

jefferson, madison, beaverhead, bitterroot, snake,

clearwater, or pallouse

call me the wide-toothed mouth of the columbia river

call me after my many creeks

my great falls

my hot springs

i am the snow atop mt. adams

i am the salty hope in the air

at cape disappointment

i am she who is the deep and the shallows

a thundering waterfall and a quiet storm

i am always present in the air, on every tongue

in every drop of milk and blood and tear

you will find me in every thorn and flower seed and fruit

there is no life without me

i am libation and baptismal pool

i am your sprinkle of holy water

i am older than man and light

i am of god not god

but like god, i am also inside of every man

for all are born in me and form there until

they are flushed naked into the world

and i remain there in them like god

until they depart and return to dust

captain clark saw me

as a great wet road that could be conquered

with the rowing and paddling of men

under his command

so i showed him

my many rapids and waterfalls

made his men carry their own boats

and supplies around me for miles at a time

these were the good years

white men had not yet studied the beaver

and learned how to redirect my paths

manage my flow harness it for their own use

attempt to enslave me too

captain lewis was different.

to him i was a piece of art

he marveled at the natural

falling of my waterlocks and felt humbled

by the beautifully carved rock masterpieces

that adorn my canyons and walls

while i have been at most an open way

for the white man

to the red man

i have bee...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• Glossary
• Opening
• Part I
• Part II
• Part III
• Part IV
• Time Line
• Another Trek: York’s Nez Perce Legacy
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author