Riding the Earthboy 40

Now with an introduction by James Tate, Riding the Earthboy 40 is the only volume of poetry written by James Weleh. The book's title refers to the forty acres Welch's father leased from the Earthboy family on the Gros Ventre Reservation. This land and the rougher terrain of the Blackfeet reservation some 150 miles west shaped Welch's worldview as a youth; its rawness resonates in the vitality of his elegant poetry, and his verse shows a great awareness of a moment in time, a place in nature, and the human being in context. Deeply evoking the specific Native American experience in Montana, Welch's poems nonetheless speak profoundly to all readers.