For the past year I have become captivated by the stories of the Potawatomi in Kansas. The Potawatomi story is not just a Kansas story. It is a history of European influence, migration and removal from Nova Scotia to Oklahoma. It is a story of missionaries who competed with one another, delivered education and discouraged Potawatomi culture. Epidemics were common on the Oregon Trail and the rivers transporting folks into the places the Indians lived and the Potawatomi joined the suffering. It is a history of commerce and politics trumping the self-determination of people. It is about livelihood and homes found, lost, taken and found again.
The Potawatomi figure prominently into my newest novel, Twisted Cross currently in pre-publication. The Potawatomi stories add to the gripping complexity, humanity and entertainment value of the novel. The Potawatomi history became so compelling I spent months researching the factual history of Potawatomi ghost towns on the Oregon Trail for an article which will appear this winter in Kansas History published by the Kansas Historical Society and Kansas State University. History is full of details, personalities, dates and places, but I also want to understand the lives of those who endured that history.
Writing a fictional story led to researching and writing a detailed history which led me back to distilling what I could of the life of a Potawatomi elder in a poem called "The Potawatomi Uniontown Lament". I am honored to have my poem "Potawatomi Uniontown Lament" published in November issue of Hownikan You may read at http://www.potawatomi.org/images/Hownikan_Nov2014_Final.pdf … It appears at the bottom of page 14.
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