In the beginning
a bang
a stew
and life
ice
receding
and cleaving
a lake
settlers arrive from the west
and around the lake
their longhouses rise
in confederation
peace
largely so
at least
until the French
until the English
and though the Natives don’t leave
it’s here that they are left
by our social studies classes
and it’s quiet white farming
until the canal
scattered graves
Irish names
trampled under mule feet
and industry
mills
paper and saw
pine floating down
from Adirondack forests
and protests
abolitionists
a rescue
(celebrated still
by local historians)
and railroads
a war
(also celebrated)
black migration
and crow discrimination
(conveniently forgotten)
salt mine money
and resorts around the lake’s
one side
manufacture on the other
and pollution
though we’re still going swimming
Mr. Ford
the Model T
Teddy on trial
for libel
and we’re growing
auto plants
chem plants
Irish
Germans
Poles
and Italians
each hating the next
hating the next
hating the Hispanics
who came later
but business was good
still good
and the wars made it better
a skyscraper
the canal paving over
a professional basketball team
winning a title
then leaving
though the local college squad
gains some prominence
under a horn-rimmed son
of a funeral director
a dome
paid some by Carrier
that has no air conditioning
and business starts turning
about a common seeming
white folk fleeing
leaving black and brown
holding
and fenced
GE?
gone
NPG?
gone
IBM?
gone
Lockheed Martin
sulking in the suburbs
and the winters suck
if you want a head of lettuce
it’s a three-mile walk
or you better catch a bus
when it runs
when you can stand
to sit outside
and wait
stopped
commuter cops
a generation scrambled
by even more wars
or worse
those who weren’t
but want to make up
for lost time
there’s a refugee settlement
a few good spots to eat
holdouts
homegrown
the lake is unswimmable
though the county assures us
that the north end may be safe
in a few years
time.