Thursday, January 30, 2025: Kelley Jean White's "Aquedoctan"
Pediatrician Kelley White has worked in inner-city Philadelphia and rural New Hampshire. Her poems have appeared in Exquisite Corpse, Rattle and JAMA. Her recent books are Toxic Environment (Boston Poet Press) and Two Birds in Flame (Beech River Books). She received a 2008 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grant. Aquedoctan At a place called Aquedoctan Paugus Bay meets Winnipesaukee, Here dwelt Abenaki people Long before the current era Here they fished in spring and summer Traded food and strings of wampum Feasted, prayed, danced and courted Made alliances with each other Tribes that came to gather winter Supplies and share the new news Of other people’s dealings further To the North, South, East, and Western And the doings of the English Who soon enough a man called Endicott Came from the stolen land of Massachusetts And he claimed a rock that guarded The stoneworks long relied on To support the basketwork weirs ...