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White River Poems
(1976)
conversations, pronouncements, testimony,
recollections and meditations
on the subject of
the White River
Massacre
Sept. 29
1879
note
In some respects the Nathan Meeker of this poem bears only a slight re-
semblance to the historical Nathan Meeker, and the same is true of most
of the other characters, though much of what he and others say here
comes from records of what they actually said. As for the events sur-
rounding the massacre itself, I have given these as I found them in the
historical accounts and documents. How much I am obliged to my sourc-
es, in this and other important respects, I detail in the Acknowledge-
ments. The poem is a composite made of pieces in various shapes and
sizes -- strictly documentary, autobiographical (i.e. Going There), quasi-
documentary, completely imaginary.
A.S.