Christopher Columbus On the Prairies

From the Response of Weeds by Bertrand Bickersteth. Published by NeWest Press in 2020.


You always wonder what you will see
next when you are the first to arrive.
He must have been disappointed,
though, when confronted with all that gold
growing in the fields.
Wild roses
Wild canola
Goldenrod
Golden wheat
At this point of his journeying
having achieved the very heartland of the continent
even the Great Discoverer
would have been getting tired of El Dorado myths.
It probably didn’t occur to him that
walking the long walk back
to the boats would give him the opportunity
to misname the largesse
of his own luck.

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Christopher Columbus On the Prairies

By November, way too far north and with only poplar and tamarack left around the prairie's edge maintaining the mythical adornment, he would have seen it for the false discovery it was and started his long walk back to Jamaica, scuffing his buckled shoes in disappointment and naming rivers, airports, body shops, and cities after himself as he went.

Then off to Japan on a day cruise.

Mitchell J Toews more than 2 years ago