a little north of south

Lament                                                                                                     


                                             By






                                   Debra Marquart


north dakota     i’m worried about you   
the companies you keep     all these new friends     north dakota   
          beyond the boom, beyond the precious resources
               do you really think they care what becomes of you  

north dakota     you used to be the shy one   
enchanted secret land loved by only a few     north dakota
when i traveled away and told people i belonged to you     north dakota
          your name rolled awkwardly from their tongues
               a mouth full of rocks, the name of a foreign country 
 
north dakota     you were the blushing wallflower
the natural beauty, nearly invisible, always on the periphery

 north dakota     the least visited state in the union   
now everyone knows your name     north dakota
the blogs and all the papers are talking about you     even 60 minutes
i’m collecting your clippings     north dakota   
the pictures of you from space
          the flares of natural gas in your northern corner
               like an exploding supernova
                    a massive city where no city exists
                          a giant red blight upon the land
and those puncture wounds  


  north dakota     take care of yourself  
the injection sites     I’ve see them on the maps   
eleven thousand active wells    one every two miles
all your indicators are up     north dakota   
          four hundred billion barrels, some estimates say
more oil than we have water to extract
          more oil than we have atmosphere to burn


north dakota     you could run the table right now     you could write your own ticket
          so, how can i tell you this?  


 north dakota, your politicians    
           are co-opted (or cowards or bought-out or honest and thwarted)
               they’re lowering the tax rate for oil companies
               they’re greasing the wheels that need no greasing
               they’re practically giving the water away


north dakota     dear sleeping beauty please, wake up
they have opened you up and said, come in     take everything
          what will become of your sacred places,
          what will become of the prairie dog, the wolf, the wild horses, the eagle,
          the meadowlark, the fox, the elk,
          the pronghorn antelope, the rare mountain lion,
          the roads, the air, the topsoil,
          your people, your people,
          what will become of the water?


north dakota     who will ever be able to live with you
once this is all over     i’m speaking to you now
as one wildcat girl     to another     be careful     north Dakota


























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