Mohican Woman

The poem that inspired the name of this blog, and the only poem I ever wrote.

Mohican Woman 

No one told me I was Indian
But I heard the ancestors faintly call.
Christianity, sorority, Judaism, atheism, New Age,
Psychology, sociology,
Scottish clan, German gemütlichkeit,
BA, ACOA, SCA,
I answered them all.
No one was there.
Yet I heard them
From the river Muhheconnetuk,
Papskenee's Island, Monemin's Island,
Scotak, Skatekook, Kaunameek, Wachachkeek,
Gokameko, Housatunnuk, Wnahtukook,
Stockbridge Mission, Guilder Hollow,
My roots follow.
Nameless places, faceless names,
Nameless faces looking back at me.
   

Debra Winchell
December 1996