Paging through an old book of poetry, I came across this poem by North Dakota poet Paul Southworth Bliss, from “Poems of Places.” The poems in the book were written as Bliss traveled the country in 1937. This one came from a stop in Oklahoma, which got oil a long time before North Dakota, but the similarities are striking, 80 years apart. Even the name Continental, although it is not the Continental of Harold Hamm, but rather the company founded in 1875 whose name is now Conoco. You can read its history here. And yes, the Canadian River could be our Little Missouri, with its green banks, and flowers, and clear water. In 1937, the poet captured the feelings many of us in North Dakota have today. Thank you for this, Paul Southworth Bliss.
PIECE OF THE EARTH
By Paul Southworth Bliss
I own
A piece of the earth,
Four-thousand miles deep —
And a half acre
Showin’ to the sky.
It’s mine …
Each time the walkin’ beam
Goes up and down
I am richer — poorer.
Up comes the black oil …
Cloyd (he works for Continental)
He just sits there
And listens,
Listens — that’s all,
Listenin’ for somethin’ goin’ wrong
For $147.50 a month;
If the engine stops
Or the rod breaks
Then he has to get up.
One, two
One, two
One, two
One, two
The rod is long —
6,547 feet!
It’s a needle
Lancin’ the rich black
Pus of the earth …
Some day
The wound will heal
The walkin’ beam will stop
And I won’t git
My $11 a day any more …
My $11 a day,
For just lettin’ ‘em
Stick that needle
A mile long
Down into my earth …
‘Til it goes dry …
Let ‘em all go dry …
Then, maybe it’ll be like it was . . .
Like it was
When there weren’t no derricks
And no stink of oil
And no earth black with sludge.
I used to sit
On the bank of the Canadian —
That’s where it flowed,
Right there —
The bank was green
And the flowers grew
And you could fish in bright water …
And now
There’s a forest of derricks
And the walkin’ beams
A-goin’
All day and all night —
And the smell of oil —
And they turned the stream away …
It don’t run here any more.
I hope the walkin’ beam stops
I hope they all stop —
Then maybe
After a while
It’ll be like it was …
When the Canadian
Ran clear,
By this same little shack,
And I didn’t get $11 a day —
That I don’t know what to
Do with …
God Almighty …
It won’t bring back
The green bank
And the flowers
And the clear water …
