Above the sabkha, the plain
salt-crusted as seacoast, there is
lightning-white gypsum that shears
through shadowy dolomite rock.
The footpaths of miners run atop the stone,
winding outward and upward until they reach
a cluster of industrial buildings.
Roads sprawl from the heart of the
Hagersville mines like thoughtless limbs,
while the trees back slowly away.
Over the sleeping west mine, six Iroquois nations
share a five percent pittance of the land they were
promised by the British two centuries ago as a
reward, they were told, for their loyalty.
On the southern side, the town of Hagersville is
known for the time that it, accidentally,
set ten million tires blazing.
They say it took firefighters seventeen days
to quell the toxic smoke. But twenty-five
years later, it still grows inside them.
Cancer swells in their blood, their bladders,
their brains. In the hospital, the white
walls are made of gypsum and some
patients swear the tap water has the
dolorous taste of waste rock that finally
leached all the way to the lake.
Here’s a link to an open-access Cayugan-English dictionary, which is the reference Jade consulted when titling the poem. They also wish to acknowledge the work of its authors: Frances Froman, who has taught the Cayuga language since 1978; Alfred J. Keye, who is a Faith Keeper and Cayuga language teacher; Lottie Keye, who has taught the Cayuga language for fifteen years; and Carrie Dyck, who is a linguist at Memorial University. The PDF is the open access version of this published book by the same authors.
About the author: Jade Wallace's poetry and fiction have appeared or are forthcoming in journals internationally, including This Magazine, Canadian Literature, The Stockholm Review, and elsewhere. They are the reviews editor for CAROUSEL Magazine and an organizing member of Draft Reading Series, and their most recent chapbooks are the collaborative A Barely Concealed Design (Puddles of Sky Press 2020) and A Trip to the ZZOO (Collusion Books 2020) under the moniker MA|DE.
See more of Jade’s work on their website.