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

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