LOVE OF PLACE

...I ride an old Paint and I lead an old Dan
Goin' to Montana to throw the houlihan
Feed them in the coulees, then water in the draw
Their tails are all matted and their backs are all raw...

I love this song. And I am pleased and proud to be going to Missoula, Montana this winter, where I’ll be the Bill Kittredge Distinguished Visiting Writer in the Environmental Studies Department, teaching one graduate workshop, writing in Missoula coffee shops, and snow-shoeing from my front door.

...Old Bill Jones had a daughter and a son
Son went to college and his daughter went wrong
His wife got killed in a free-for-all fight
Still he keeps singing from morning 'til night...

My husband and I met at the MFA program in Missoula in 1978, fell in love, graduated, married, and moved to southwestern New Mexico to be “back to the landers,” believing that our personal connection to nature was the cutting edge of a new environmentalism and land ethic. We had a too-big garden, too many goats, two homebirths—a daughter and a son—and too much goat cheese in the refrigerator. Our illusion that we could live off the land lasted two weeks, or maybe a little longer. Eventually we got jobs. Now we’ve been some 35 years in this watershed.

...When I die take my saddle from the wall
Put it onto my pony, lead him out of his stall
Tie my bones on his back and turn our faces to the west
We'll ride the prairies that we love the best...

Every day I am stunned, knocked out, by some bit of beauty in the place where I live. The clouds, a coyote, a burning bush. Half the time, I turn away, thinking about lunch or listening to the talk show running endlessly in my head. Half the time, I go into worship. 

...Ride around, little dogies, ride around them real slow
For the fiery and snuffy are raring to go...

How grand to be returning now to Montana. The fiery and snuffy are raring to go.