Eddie Arana, Rick Thibodeau, & Chris Bakunas San Diego, Ca. March 2012

Eddie Arana, Rick Thibodeau, & Chris Bakunas San Diego, Ca. March 2012
Eddie Arana, Rick Thibodeau, & Chris Bakunas at Luche Libre Taco Shop in San Diego, March 2012

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Good Ol' Ollie Bergstrom



Gustavus never saw the grasses of Dawson wave
He never imagined all that energy wasted on a rain dance
His city was built to protect the sea traders
The ships of Keiller never knew the plains

The children lay beneath rusting wrought iron crosses
Their parents friends with an agent for the U.P.
Who came in advance to build sod houses for workers
Easy terms no down payment finance

Get them from Sweden with promises of freedom 
Promise them 160 and a plow
The railroad needed labor
And everyone needed a second chance

Make a fence of barbed wire, make a sculpture too
Robert Henri had to change how he signed his work
When his father shot Pearson in the pasture
But underneath the paint he was a Cozad

All of those Swedes
Settling along the 100th meridian
Left the Baltic coast behind
No longer beholden to the arms of Gastrikland 









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