Nate-san
Broom Duster Kan
Thus sayeth the Prophet Willie: “My heroes have always been cowboys.” Willie Nelson could be singing for the whole wide world; the appeal of the American cowboy is almost universal.
It’s astonishing to consider that a simple herdsman…a man whose primary historical function was to observe cattle as they graze and to move them to market…has been transformed into an iconic figure representing individualism, self-reliance, and a sort of “aw-shucks” heroism. People have been herding livestock for tens of thousands of years in all parts of the world. But the man in Inokashira Park in Tokyo doesn’t dress like a Masai cowherd, or play the music of Cypriot shepherds, or emulate the reindeer herdsmen of Lapland. It doesn’t even matter if he’s never seen a living cow. He’s a Nipponese cowboy.
My heroes have always been cowboys / And they still are, it seems. / Sadly in search of, and one step in back of, / Themselves and their slow-movin’ dreams.
Sing it Willie. Sing it Broom Duster Kan.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, greg fallis and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
