Dawnland Voices: An Anthology of Indigenous Writing from New England

Notes

268 penobscot with red fists I pray since I’m only guaranteed today I take every second as a gift the creator gave we as Nation don’t need guns for fighting rezervations are crumbling without freedom emancipation is a kaleidoscope of races colliding we should be uniting untying chains that are binding unwriting the lies they are hiding we need to start living instead of merely surviving Notes 1. “[R]oad built during the Aroostook War passing through Indian land at Mattawamkeag to northern Maine” (Indian Country Today note). 2. The governor of Maine in November 1829 was Nathan Cutler. The governor of the Penobscot Nation at this time was John Attean. 3. Spotted Elk danced at San Antonio’s Aztec Theater in the 1920s. 4. Spotted Elk’s journal states that on February 17, 1929, she “read most of the day—in a poetic and fanciful mood,” and wrote this poem. 5. From the Penobscot word for badger, Alakso, or “Indian Devil” 6. Neeburban, or Aurora Borealis, is a signature Spotted Elk used for these last two poems. In an epigraph before “The Dreamer” she writes, “yes, Molly was timid and shy when this was written. The poem sounds so childlike, I have never changed it. I lived close and near to Nature and I wrote many nature poems—and Indian ones—few I have ever shown—because I was timid and sensitive and was afraid people would laugh and call me silly, for trying to write poetry.” 7. “Skee wun,” human waste water. Passamaquoddy language (author’s note). 8. “Mitch i gun,” human waste. Passamaquoddy language (author’s note). 9. “Gewh huz,” muskrat. Passamaquoddy language (author’s note). 10. Molly Molasses is ssipsis’ friend Georgia Mitchell, a Passamaquoddy from Pleasant Point, Maine. 11. “Ge nub ska ze tid psap nig,” big fat onions. Passamaquoddy language (author’s note). 12. See “Trends and Indicators in Higher Education,” New England Journal of Higher Education, Spring 2009. 13. “Panampsk” is an abbreviated version of panawapskek, or rock. 14. Caribou Lake is below Chesuncook Lake, near Millinocket and Baxter State Park, Maine. 15. “Megalibu” means caribou. 16. Pamola is a peak on Mt. Katahdin, named for a spirit who inhabited the mountain; Pamola tested young boys, who became shamans if they passed his test. “Atahando” means power. 17. Attean, Susep, and Nicola are old Penobscot family names. Further Reading 269 18. Swasson, Susep, Francis, Neptune, and Dani are more Penobscot family names, including Dana’s, which was originally “Denis,” pronounced “Daney.” 19. The poem is about Dana’s grandmother, who was Passamaquoddy. 20. Inspired by a traditional story of Kesihlet, who ran moose from the peak of Katahdin to what is now Bangor, Penobscot Chief Barry Dana established the annual onehundred -mile Katahdin Penobscot Run in the 1980s. In 1984 Chief Dana’s mother and Carol Dana were the first two women to walk the event, which now combines running, walking, and canoeing. 21. “Ulnerbeh” is a Penobscot word that means “friend like a brother/sister.” 22. Mitchell explains that “Burnurwurbskek means ‘where the rocks come out of the water’ and denotes that the village is where there are rapids near Old Town.” Personal communication, November 11, 2010. Further Reading penobscot authors Dana, Carol. Return to Spirit and Other Musings. Greenfield Center ny: Bowman Books, 2014. —. When No One Is Looking. Greenfield Center ny: Bowman Books, 2010. Print. Dana, Joe. Place of the White Rocks. Indian Island me: Penobscot Cultural Heritage Preservation Commission, n.d. Print. Frey, Rhonda. “Current Events in Stereotypes and Racism—Stockton Springs (Stereotyping and Racism Curriculum: Grades 8–9).” 2007: n. pag. Print. —. “Growing Up with Stereotypes: A Native Woman’s Perspective (Stereotyping and Racism Curriculum: Grades 6–8).” 2007: n. pag. Print. Girouard, Maria. “The Life and Traditions of the Red Man.” Ethnohistory 55.1 (2008): 174–75. Web. 25 May 2011. Lane, Daniel. Ice Goes Out. Bloomington in: AuthorHouse, 2004. Print. Loring, Donna. “The Dark Ages of Education and a New Hope.” New England Journal of Higher Education (Summer 2009): 16–17. Print. —. In the Shadow of the Eagle: A Tribal Representative in Maine. Gardiner me: Tilbury House Publishers, 2008. Print. Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission. http://www.mitsc.org/. Web. 9 June 2011. Mead, Alice, and Arnold Neptune. Giants of the Dawnland: Ancient Wabanaki Tales. Huntington Beach ca: Loose Cannon Press, 2010. Print. Nelson, Eunice. The Wabanaki: An Annotated Bibliography of Selected Books, Articles, Documents about Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot Indians in Maine, Annotated...