I was perusing through a Story Map of prompts from the Iowa Writing Project (for the National Writing Project’s Write Across America — my writing project is host for October!) and came across the concept of Land Abstracts, the recorded deed of owners of a piece of land, passed down from generation to generation as a legal document. My morning poem stemmed from that concept.
The narrative arc
of the story
of this land
gets told
in transaction –the Abstract of title
of people who’ve
purchased pieces
of this property
over the years –we read it together, tonight,
you and I, tracing moments
of prosperity and poverty,
of long leases and quick sells,
as the land sleeps its way
through another generation,patient, as always, but
rarely forgiving
Peace (the land beneath our feet),
Kevin
The area of Western Massachusetts has been settled by European colonist for more than 400 years, and by native Americans for hundreds of years before then.
That means the land has hosted many forms of habitation that have been reclaimed by nature over the years, then cultivated again by new owners.
A project like you’ve described that shows how the land has changed over several hundred years would be really interesting.
Especially if it were illustrated using a story map like the Iowa Writing Project presentation.
Actually, the land here where I live was settled thousands of years before the Europeans even stepped foot on this soil. It’s a fascinating history (and then depressingly sad) of how indigenous people used this place. We often kayak on some of the same waterways tribes for all over the region used to gather for salmon runs at a central gathering place (now named for the British soldier who massacred the tribes at that gathering spot).