by Laura Rodley
 |
| Native and Himalayan Views souvenir shop along the Mohawk Trail in Charlemont removed the 20-foot-tall Native American statue in front of the Route 2 store. Photo Credit: Native and Himalayan Views Facebook via Daily Voice. |
First I passed the feathers
of the headdress
over the lip of Greenfield Mountain,
a headdress on a flatbed,
then the rest of the body
of the twenty-foot
Native American statue
that stood in Charlemont
in front of the gift shop
since before I was born,
the shop changing hands
many times,
and now it’s being trucked
to Vinita Oklahoma, so distinctive
it’s recognizable from the tip
of headdress lying flat,
his face carved with deep grooves,
resembling oak bark, no smile.
I miss it already,
though I haven’t seen
it in years.
of the headdress
over the lip of Greenfield Mountain,
a headdress on a flatbed,
then the rest of the body
of the twenty-foot
Native American statue
that stood in Charlemont
in front of the gift shop
since before I was born,
the shop changing hands
many times,
and now it’s being trucked
to Vinita Oklahoma, so distinctive
it’s recognizable from the tip
of headdress lying flat,
his face carved with deep grooves,
resembling oak bark, no smile.
I miss it already,
though I haven’t seen
it in years.
Laura Rodley, Pushcart Prize winner, is a quintuple Pushcart Prize nominee and quintuple Best of Net nominee. Latest books: Turn Left at Normal by Big Table Publishing, Counter Point by Prolific Press, and As You Write It Lucky 7, a collection of 11 writers' work.
