The 1890 Penny

For reasons I can not completely explain, I keep an 1890 Indian Head penny on my writing desk. Although I was drawn to the penny because many historians consider 1890 the end of Manifest Destiny, I still lament the settling of the West. 

I don't know. Perhaps somewhere deep in my mind the penny is a symbol of irrevocable change. Perhaps it represents my ambivalence toward modernity. Then again, perhaps I keep it there because I wonder where it's been. Regardless of the reason or reasons, the penny still remains.

Here is Texas' own Guy Clark singing "Indian Head Penny."