Departures

Interior Department reported
— obsolete primers —
the boom-town construction

Tribes left their reservations
— coyote’s quodlibets —
horses and stones for pillows

Shadowy elemental diagrams
— thousands walking —
no relief or sanctuary in sight

Chickasaw, Illini, and Ioway
— Quapaw and Otoe —
Missouri’s tribes disbanded

. . . . .

Poet: Susan Powers Bourne
Source: Women.Poets.Missouri
Process: Augmented cento