Hiawatha

 October 12, 2021

Columbus Day, which has become Indigenous Peoples Day. I was fascinated with Indians as a kid, especially by the Erie and Mingo and Natchez, credited by boyhood reading with sophisticated cultures long before European interference. Repeated readings of Hiawatha instilled a certain attitude which, if problematic, was respectful and creative. Could scarcely believe when I moved to Syracuse that our own sad Onondaga Lake had been Hiawatha’s home. 

Second day of grunt gardening. Continued excavating, transplanted peonies that were not happy where they were, planted allium, broomed the summer’s spider webs off the sides of the house.