going
		----------------------------------------------------------

		1.

		the potawatomi of illinois were not going quietly
		they killed the fort dearborn souls in the war of 1812
		tecumseh the shawnee fighting in canada for the british
		against the americans (long knives) was too-soon dead
		fortified with history of these ex-forests ex-prairies
		i'm going

		the prairie had its highways in 1804
		vast trade networks -- horses and guns for corn
		mandan sioux shoshone
		cheyenne cree

		driving on i-90 i'm going through indian reservations
		the drying out spots -- poverty and islands of gambling
		i'm going

		2.
		
		going-to-the-sun road
		they say one of the beautiful drives of the world
		climbs up and down logan pass in glacier national park
		in april under 100 feet of snow
		plowed open in time for july
		dress warmly for the snow-packed higher elevations
		i'm going

		and all around the jaggediest sierra imaginable
		and all around -- emerald forest green
		and all around winnebagos mini-vans camcorders
		this used to belong to the pro-british blackfeet

		from heights the mountain lakes look deep turquoise
		because of glacier-ground suspended dust
		i'm going

		3.

		corrosive america left and right always was corrosive
		indians were always raiding other indians
		without fighting -- how could there be honorable chiefs?
		like indians i am happy to be on the road
		my car is still driving at 200 thousand miles my pony
		without trading supplies for shoshone and nez perce horses
		lewis and clark wouldn't have crossed and recrossed the divide
		without my pony i would be a city-stuck tv-watching chicagoan
		aching for my fair ladies my fair open spaces my fair rides
		i'm going.  going going

		too caught-up in the sinew too far-gone in the head not to go.


			Marek Lugowski
			June 27, 1999
			Chicago, Illinois