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93 THE SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE I believe in echoes now, in the earth that holds you. I believe in a bird, its flight, though I’m not sure which one, hawk or seagull; the cedar near your grave, and the lake not far away that you feared from childhood.56 It seems, then, that Kenny brings vitality to his presentation of characters by drawing on relationships that are familiar to him and infusing this personal background into his poetry. The overall effect is compelling; what is particularly interesting is that it fits a larger cultural tension. The author begins The Mama Poems with the Mohawk version of the Iroquois creation story, which reports a strong male–female tension: Right-handed Twin came naturally from his mother, the daughter impregnated by the West Wind, of Sky-woman. But his brother, Left-handed Twin, impatiently sprang early from his mother’s armpit and killed her from his unnatural escape from her body.57 The matricide in the legendary story comes up in an interesting way in “On the Staten Island Ferry,” from The Mama Poems: You brought me here when I was ten . . . A friend suggested I write a novel of how I wanted to push you off the ferry into the wake . . . fall like Sky-woman fell form the old world. My friend said impatience cured curiosity, but I don’t think novels cure pain not intention of guilt. This morning the sun hangs in the eastern sky and the moon sits in the west. They eye each other, jealous siblings never willing to share a dandelion nor rib of venison. As I could not do without a mother we cannot do without their argument. They’ll continue contesting on such mornings as this, and I will continue pleased that you had not been swallowed in the ferry’s wake. . . . My father took me home again.58 94 CRAIG S. WOMACK The poem begins with the line about the boy’s mother bringing him to the ferry and ends with his father taking him home. In the midst of all this ambivalence, the poem alludes to the legend about Left-handed Twin accidentally killing his mother, and it seems to suggest that the story that informs the poem actually keeps things in balance: “As I could not do / without a mother we cannot do / without their argument.” In fact, the legend seems to help the speaker deal with his feelings and provides a cathartic release for his hostilities. The analysis here is not an attempt to be psychoanalytical, but, because the author himself raises these issues in the poems, it makes for an interesting comparison. In the whole body of work, one sees this kind of tension often: Wolf Mother protecting Jogues against the leaders of the Bear Moiety, who want to kill him59 ; sibling, parental, and masculine and feminine tension in the poem “Sometimes . . . Injustice” in The Mama Poems60 ; Molly with the knife to Sir William’s scalp in Molly Brant. If anything, because of their consistency in all three books and the way they hearken back to legendary stories, these themes strengthen the poetry and broaden the author’s vision, depicting vital, passionate, sometimes disturbing relationships between men and women. In addition to these interesting personal relationships, Molly Brant reminds us of those person who suffered under both banners—the Union Jack and the star-spangled one. The poems suggest that, in addition to honoring George Washington as father of our country, we must acknowledge other names for the first president if we wish to invoke the liberating power of truth. The Mohawk called him the “town exterminator” because of his policy of total annihilation. Cornplanter, in 1790, had this to say to George Washington: “When your army entered the country of the Six Nations, we called you Town Destroyer: and to this name when that name is heard our women look behind them and turn pale, and our children cling close to the necks of their mothers.”61 Kenny’s poetry demonstrates that, in order to understand historical figures like Washington, we need to know all their names. Contemporary people can heal the wrongs of the past only by creative empathy, not by “putting the past behind us.” Cultural memory—accessible through the imagination and brought to life in this body of poems—rather than cultural amnesia provides our best hope for survival. Lying and covering up, not truth-telling, threaten democracy. Traditional cultures have great potential in...

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