"On Tuesday, March 24, 1981, In Billings, Montana, Which Is Nicknamed The Magic City For Its Rapid Growth As A Young Railroad Town In 1882, News Reports Said That An Earthquake Had Hit New Zealand Which Was Hardly Any Consequence At All In The Western United States Except For Maybe The Slightest Tremor Felt Under The Feet, More Of A Shiver Than A Shake, Imperceptible To Most Humans But Noticed By The Sensitive Beasts Of The Nearby Pryor Mountains Mustang Herd, A Group Of Wild Horses Deemed, Because Of Their Unique Genetic Makeup, The Most Significant Wild Horse Herd Remaining In The United States. This Day, In A Courtroom Downtown, A Judge Was Deciding A Very Large Case In Which The Crow Tribe Of Montana Sought To Ban Hunting And Fishing Within Its Reservation By Anyone Who Was Not A Member Of The Tribe, Citing Its Purported Ownership Of The Bed Of The Bighorn River, On Treaties Which Created Its Reservation, And On Its Inherent Power As A Sovereign, But The Judge Was Currently Ruling, With Coffee On His Breath, That This Was Not To Be, And That Hunting And Fishing Areas Of The Crow Reservation Would Continue To Be Open To Anyone, Stating The Treaties Of 1851 And 1868 Did Not Convey Ownership Of The Riverbed To The Crow Tribe, And He Said This In A Voice As Hollow As The Halls In Which They Sat, The Judge And Members Of The Crow Tribe. It Was Noon, And Across Town A Slight Girl With Green Eyes And Straw-Colored Hair Writhed In Pain As A Baby Girl Struggled Out Of Her, Me, And She Knew What I Didn't Know Yet Because How Could I, That Even As The Doctor Readied The Blade To Slice The Umbilical Cord, That A Man Outside Check His Watch And Waited To Transport Me Somewhere Else, I Don't Know Where, To Be Adopted To Someone Else. To Move On From This I Will Now Talk About The Moon That Night And How It Was A Waning Gibbous Moon, Meaning 85 Percent Of It Was Illuminated, The Moon Of Demeter, Which Traditionally Marks A Harvest Sacrifice To The Earth Mother, A Moon In Which Its Followers Are Advised To Disconnect From Unwanted Situations, Banish What Shouldn't Be There, And Remove Obstacles. A Sad Day On Many Fronts", acrylic and pencil on panel, 2017, 24x30”