Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO CHIEF KAMIAKIN, HAPPILY DEAD, by CLARK EMERY


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO CHIEF KAMIAKIN, HAPPILY DEAD, by                    
First Line: Squaws on the kerosene-sprinkled floor
Last Line: Sick and drunk in the county jail.
Subject(s): Native Americans; Indians Of America; American Indians; Indians Of South America


Squaws on the kerosene-sprinkled floor
Of Baldwin-Emery's grocery store,
Wrinkle-furrowed and black-eyed squat,
Thinking, perhaps, of buffalo steaks
Or venison sweet in the tribal pot

Of smoky fires on the Klickitat
When Chief Saluiskin wore no hat
Or blue-serge store clothes, ready to wear;
When tepees fumed -- their hearth and home,
Not sideshows barked at the County Fair;

When eagle-quilled Kamiakin
(O straight and tall, O bronze of skin)
Led Yakima braves and Okanogan,
Kennewick, Toppenish, Walla Walla,
Through Moxee hills and the Tieton,

South of Cle Elum and Keechelus,
North of Chinook and Ohanepecosh,
Skirting the glacial gulch of Nisqually,
Though eager for salmon at Mukilteo,
Picking wild plums in Puyallup valley,

North to Skykomish,
West through Snohomish,
To race canoes or to fight if need be,
To barter for clams and brides with the Siwash,
To Potlatch and peace-pipe, or perfidy.

Impassive toadstools, they splotch the floor
Of Baldwin-Emery's grocery store,
Deerskin pouches upon their knees,
Papooses mummified on their backs,
Munching crackers and rinds of cheese.

O straight and tall, O bronze of skin,
O eagle-quilled Kamiakin,
The squaws of your children are begging cheese;
You whom the Yakima braves revered,
Whom Umatilla and Nez Perce feared.

And the sons you sired, Kamiakin,
Are they straight and tall and bronze of skin?
Oh, they're bent and retching and greenly-pale,
They've come to Saturday's end of the trail,
They wait for their squaws and the weekly bail,
Sick and drunk in the County Jail.





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