Still (1604-2009)
You are still hunting moose
and making drums
from its hide.
You are still teaching whites
how to heal with alder and herbs
we crush as we walk.
You sing friendship songs,
paddle your birch canoe out
to greet the new Tall Ships so
like Champlain's.
We've stopped calling you savage
but still keep you reserved.
Now we want back
everything we tried to steal,
everything we lost.
Just read this poem:
we are still thieves.
Two Airports
1968, Dayton, Ohio, Departure
the woman's splotched and red with soggy sobs
...... he, in uniform, can't wait
...... ...... for this to be over
...... ...... ...... already he's starched
....now the pink baby howls too
I marched and marched
against this and still
...here they are this couple tearing
...... apart perhaps for good
...... ...... here is this baby
...... ...... ...... turning red
2008, Burlington, Vermont, Arrival
you, a teenager, wince on the stairs,
....your cane shaking, a torn crimson line
...... stitched from ankle to knee
it's midnight, I wonder why the lounge is full,
...... then everybody claps, uniforms encircle you
...... ...... but your eyes are only weary
we tried again
to keep you home...... at peace
instead we sent you off to kill
...... to rip open your leg that may never
...... ...... heal, and who knows
...... what you did...... there
least of all...... you
Mary Dingee Fillmore earned her M.F.A. at Vermont College after a twenty-five year career in organizational development and a hidden life as a writer. Her poetry about the Holocaust in the Netherlands and other subjects has appeared in Upstreet, Pearl, Diner, Westview, Main Street Rag, Pinyon and Blueline among other venues. She won the Poetry Grand Prize in the 2007 Tallgrass Writers' Guild Contest, and is a winner of the 2006 Iowa Source contest. Her essay, "Freeing the Hidden Camp," won Honorable Mention from The Journal (Ohio State University) in 2008.
(author retains copyright)
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