Tuesday, June 13, 2017

I FOUND A SURPRISE ON HIAWATHA HOUSE

        I follow Mr Pudding on Yorkshire Pudding. Lately Mr Pudding has been reflecting on how much repetition is on his blog. He said that there's a link at the top left hand side of the page and you could easily find old blogs .

        Well, I just had to try it. I put in schools since I was a teacher for 37 years and had written about schools. bingo. I found all the posts on schools. First, too many of them started out with"I was a teacher for 37 years" 


       One post caught my eye. It contained a poem I had written and I'd forgotten all about it. It was a poem meant to go along with the placing of a marker for the school building that had been closed long ago.


       Now, I went to the school for nine years and this blog takes it's name from the school. 


       So here's the poem I'd forgotten about. The names are of the people who lived in the area 




HIAWATHA GROUND

Quiet earth lay covered by prairie grass and buckbrush ,
Meadowlarks,crows and hunting coyotes occasionally passed by,
Briefly visited by many spring blooms ,
And ancient quiet people who scanned the willows for big brown bulks ,
Of many life sustaining energies.

Dustyhorn, Bitternose, Whitefeather, Asqpace...

Suddenly, settlers appear to till the land
And put down roots of settlement
Which spawned wire fences , trails ,roads
And dwellings to house their families
And patient beasts of burden.
King, Clark, Minnings, Paul...

Then their children required an education
So a school house was  patiently planned
By careful applications to the powers of the land
Who controlled the many details of
Official school district formation.
Hawes, Weurfel, Winks, Rathwell...

So with patient effort acceptance was gained
To build a school with gifted labor
Borrowed money and volunteers who
Undertook the time consuming supervision
Which produced a shining building for the children.
Ingelton, Bushell, Taylor, Wildeman...

Years of care to run the school
Find and pay a teacher
Repair the roof and walls
Fill out the required forms and reports
For the privilege of keeping kids in school.
Barber, Johnson, Langille, Stevenson...

Quiet Christians gathered there
In the name of the Lord to sing
And pray and study God's word
Which supported their souls
And daily trials and tribulations.
Mehaffey, Ronald , Kline, Muir...

Years ground by with depression
Drought ,war and changes slowly
Came to settlers and their way of life
As some moved on to other grounds
To find an easier success.
Manke, Brust, Kabernick, Leggott...

The silent end quickly appeared
When only six lonely scholars filled the desks
And sad decisions were made
To close the Hiawatha learning center
Which had faithfully served quiet locals
Epp, Kreiger, Enns, Freisen...

Now, the ground sleeps deeply once again
Visited by passing hawks and goldfinch
Covered by annual snows
While the joyous shouts of children
And devoted settlers are no longer heard .
Red tailed hawks, ground squirrels, butterflies...

23 comments:

  1. Excellent story, and captivating poetry, Red. It's interesting to see all the names through the history of that area. I'm glad YP's post inspired you to search your blog and find this.

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    1. It's a poem that was in my head for a long time. The school was only open from 1908 - 1955.

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  2. I've checked the link often to see if I've written about something and have been surprised to find that I had. You and I both started blogging in 2008 I see.

    I really enjoyed your poem, Red. It's very beautifully written and gives the spirit of the land and the life that lived there at different times for different reasons. You are a talented poet.

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    1. Well, thank you. I must admit that I'm a lazy poet and don't write very much.

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  3. This is beautiful. You are a gifted man.

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    1. Thank you. Now I always tell you don't lay on the praise too heavy because it goes to my head and that's dangerous.

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  4. What a really moving poem Red. It conveyed to me the situation which must be replicated in so many places across the world: even the Island upon which I live.

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    1. This school closed in 1955 and was only open for 47 years.

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  5. That's wonderful, Red! I hadn't read it before and really enjoyed it. Your names at the end of each stanza and then the names of the animals is perfect. Well done! I have a search widget on my blog so that I can find things again. It's very handy. :-)

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    1. When you've written over 1000 posts you start to forget. I like to check the changes in my writing style.

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  6. This was a fun read. You write skillfully and with feeling. Nicely done.

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    1. Thank you. It helps the writing when there is a meaningful situation.

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    1. Thank you. It's more like historical poetry.

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  8. Poet ... another one of the hats you wear! Nicely done, especially the repetition of names at the end of each stanza. I have always wondered where the name of your blog came from.

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    1. I did a post way back explaining the origin of my blog's name.

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    1. Thank you. For me it's a feeling of loss...loss of potential.

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  10. I enjoyed your poem Red. Very nice and creative.

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    1. Thanks. It's more historical than fictional.

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  11. Wow! This was great. It is so bittersweet with its sad ending.

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  12. Thank you. It was sad but life goes on.

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  13. Hi Red, Enjoyed the poem! Wow, I never used the little search box at the top left of the page ... GREAT to find that. I've been wishing I had put "tags" on my blog entries. This search box may work just as well. Thanks Red!

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