white river poems 339
by suff ocation in mud,
only more slowly -- a set
of contending motives, each
being all too obvious,
as those hearings just disclosed,
is uninteresting and is
important. It kills people.'
-- `It kills people. And therefore
that testimony raises
questions. Byers -- ' And again
Meeker laughs. `Ah. Byers -- '
It is clear that for Meeker
this is a touchy subject.
`A man with the energy
of a nightmare, and the same
relentless, skew momentum
in the way he carried out
his designs -- with which he was
so entirely occupied
he scarcely noticed others
except as they obstructed
his movement -- when they became
merely inconveniences,
calling not for resentment
or malice, but a further
burst of eff ort. Hence, the Utes
were to Byers very much like
a tree downed across his road
by a windstorm. Which gave him
a wonderful clarity
in testifying; things appeared
sharp, unclouded to him,
you know; his conscience was clear,
since it was unoccupied.'
I say, `Calling Colorow
the most characteristic