Hometown
by Holland Groves
- From here, you can see
the scorched red clay worn smooth
by wind and water.
The creek that cuts through town
chokes the tree along its banks
and floods the fields from March to May.
A century ago, the Cherokee
were pulled through winter to get here.
Frozen and beaten, they huddled
in blankets disguised with disease,
discarded their dead in ditches along the way.
Now, on the Fourth of July,
the town turns out
to wave the country's colors
to each other,
while the old Indians
at the edge of town
huddle together against the chill
at the end of the Trail of Tears.
and is funded through a St. Cloud State University
(St. Cloud, Minnesota) Cultural Diversity Committee allocation.
Contributors retain all rights to their work.
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Last update: 15 July 1998
URL: http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/kaleidoscope/volume4/hometown.html