J.W. Burleson photo / Boquillas del Carmen, Coah.

PHB

My photo
Brooklin, Maine, United States
We own a 1975 GMC Sierra Grande 15 in Maine and a 1986 Chevrolet Custom Deluxe 10 in West Texas. Also a pair of 1997 Volvo 850 wagons. Average age in the fleet is 28 years--we're recycling. I've published 3 novels: THE LAW OF DREAMS (2006), THE O'BRIENS (2012), and CARRY ME (2016). Also 2 short story collections: NIGHT DRIVING(1987) and TRAVELLING LIGHT (2013). More of my literary life is at www.peterbehrens.org I was a Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study for 2012-13. I'm an adjunct professor at Colorado College and in the MFA program at Queens University of Charlotte. In 2015-16 I was a Fellow at Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. The Autoliterate office is in Car Talk Plaza in Harvard Square, 2 floors above Dewey Cheatem & Howe. SUBSCRIBE TO THE AUTOLITERATE DAILY EMAIL by hitting the button to the right.

Friday, May 6, 2016

Cimarron, New Mexico, Bob Dylan and Blind Willie McTell

 Not a lot going on in Cimarron, in northeastern New Mexico. Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the west and the great plains to the east sprawling toward Texas. The St James Hotel is an intriguing building. I wonder why so many blues mention either the St James Hotel or the St James Infirmary? Dylan was gazing out the window of the St James Hotel in what is probably his best song, (so far)  Blind Willie McTell.

 The building below was the courthouse when Cimarron was the county seat of Colfax co., before 1882, when it was relocated to Springer. There was a range war here in 1870s. New Mexico was always messed up with competing land claims, Spanish, Mexican and American, with lots of history and with a tradition of indifferent surveying. Everyone had guns so things got violent. fast. The land was taken from the Indians then fought over by various clans of Americans.

 I think was must have been a flour or feed mill.




No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.