UNSPEAKABLES
Jane Sprague
This cannot be a list. The land
itself indifferent to our histories—
someone posted signs (white signs)
blue—blue blood—the D.A.R. funded
these—blue and yellow—the state's
colors—at the time—road-mapping
genocide—General Sullivan's campaign
Here Peach Orchard (BURNT) (sign gone)
O-WA-GE-A (now Owego) and the
real fact of the old tale is that
all the Indians were long gone anyway
before Sullivan's gouty push cut through
the Western wilds of what once was
not even Dutch terrain
~~~~~
Jane Sprague is the author of The Port of Los Angeles (Chax, 2009) and several chapbooks. Current projects include editing Imaginary Syllabi (Palm Press, 2010) and researching My Appalachia, a book of poetry and prose investigating generational poverty, rednecks and racism, and histories of genocide in upstate NY. She lives in Long Beach, CA where she teaches writing at CSULB and publishes Palm Press.