A matador is an embroidered fool.
But then, aren't we all . . .
This story is not about a matador.
This story is about the last newspaper
published in Belle Fourche
South Dakota.
I have no reason to think
that Winnie Hu,
who is not an embroidered fool,
but works for the New York Times,
had any inkling of what happened
in Belle Fourche.
You might think that mentioning
a noted journalist in this manner
is simply egregious name-dropping.
A fishing expedition,
I think jurists call it.
But she is an archetype,
an avatar,
that gives this Belle Fourche
incident meaning and
substance.
The last newspaper ever
published in Belle Fourche
used an article by Winnie Hu
about planting more trees
in New York City.
South Dakota has so few trees
that those that spring up
are suffered to grow unmolested
like a park statue.
And now the state has even fewer
newspapers, once the Belle Fourche
paper ceased publishing.
It happened like this --
No, I guess it's not that important.
It wasn't a very good newspaper
anyway.
Their obituary writer routinely
misspelled the names of the dead.
And they ran a column of old quotes
by Harold Stassen.
Sorry, Winnie.
Sorry, Belle Fourche.
Sorry, Mr. Stassen.
Apologies, matadors.
I thought I had something
important to say.
But I don't.
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haiku
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Ms. Hu's somewhat puzzling email response to this poem:
Hi Tim, good morning and thank you! So sorry to hear about the Belle Fourche paper but I enjoyed your tribute. And hopefully there are more trees in your future! Winnie