Ranger Doug’s Poem

Ranger Doug informed us that he began writing poetry after he heard God Speak to him. Ranger Doug is not an overly religious man, he jokes that he’s a part-time Presbyterian = ). However when many of his friends began to pass away, he said God spoke to him. Ranger Doug first mentioned that when God speaks to him, He always calls him Douglas = ). Ranger Doug went on to explain that God said to him, “Douglas, you little bald headed shit, get your act together” = ) The poems were part of that getting his act together stuff = ). The poem I am including here is entitled “The Tipi Ring Society”. Ranger Doug informed us that large stones were used by the American Indian women to hold down the buffalo hide at the base of the Tipi’s. From helicopters you can still see areas that have Tipi rings, indicating a village or society of American Indians inhabited that area. The term “count coup” found in the poem refers to; when instead of killing an enemy when they had the chance, the American Indians would strike them with a stick and allow them to live. This was said to be a much greater victory.

I stood alone
Not long ago
On the great plains
Where the north winds blow

In rings of stones
That circled round
Like a necklace
There upon the ground

A necklace placed
By some small hand
To hold the lodge skins
To the land

And to the poles
Stretched so high
Like fingers
Holding up the sky

And I wondered
What those stones had seen
And what their stories
Might have been

Did buffalo
In and endless sea
Pass by this place
Like you and me

Did painted men
On painted steeds
Count coup here
For glorious deeds

And what of those
With eyes so pale
Did they walk here
On the beaver’s trail

The sacred peaks
Rise there to the west
Did the trail start here
for a vision quest

Did children
Play in the prairie grass
And chase the tumble weeds
As they passed

To hear them sing
As they raced along
We’re wild, we’re free
But not for long

And now they’re gone
And what I’ve found
Is all that’s left
Here on the ground

A circle of stones
Welcomes you and me
To the tipi ring
Society.