painting by david wright
Cherokee Sonetto
In the seventh century the Cherokee were named
one of the “Five Civilized Tribes” as they could assimilate
numerous cultural practices, were willing to be trained
by arrogant European-American settlers to emulate
the invader’s Continental clothing styles and beliefs;
so the bible was translated completely into Cherokee
and Sam Houston was treated like one of their chiefs
before the Indian Removal Act became the major key
in 1838, for Martin Van Buren, who was then President,
to dispatch 7,000 federal troops to evict 16,000 Cherokee,
force marching them 800 miles, mandated by the government
to travel to the hellhole called The Indian Territory.
Yet today, the Cherokee thrive, having 300,000 members,
the largest tribe in the United States, now patriotic partners.
Glenn Buttkus
September 2012
Posted over on dVerse Poets
Would you like to hear the author read this sonnet?
13 comments:
Absolutely Shakespearean in structure; heroic in content. Yes, you played with line length and meter and yet it stands tall and proud as the Cherokees themselves as a well formed sonnet with your unique voice. Well done! (Didn't hurt that karma (or sky chiefs) bestowed many oil leases on that land..hahahahaha!)
Bold and intelligent Glenn...l love it. A wonderfully unique sonnet - and a history lesson.
An amazing ending given the history you relate! Your diction and images are emotion free, the better to cause the reaction out here, in me. A proud people, justly so.
I once wrote a sonnet in iambic octameter, so I know exactly why you took liberties with the conventional meter: it allows you to tell a compelling story in sufficient detail. Bravo.
Like this, Glenn. It read so naturally, was hard to believe I was reading formed poetry.
Glenn, this is nothing to do with the poem, which I'll read some other time.
I have had an email purporting to be from you, stranded in Madrid, Spain, asking me to send you 2.600 dollars. Best check if somebody has hacked into your account. You are the second blogger friend who has been 'mugged at gunpoint' in Madrid and asked me to bail them out.
A proud and distinguished piece
well, done and I love history lessons disguised as a sonnet.
Friko: I knew someone hacked my Yahoo and Facebook emails, but this is the first I have heard of blogging friends being included; of course, it is a bullshit scam, please disregard.
This is such an interesting sonnet, Glenn. It undercuts expectations, plays with the form, both of which serve the theme very effectively I think. Thought-provoking.
Powerfully done.
I enjoyed reading about the Cherokee though I sort of knew the story - which can never be known enough.
Form question: the rhyme is there, but no analogy or meter -- or did I miss something? Was avoiding the form intentional? Otherwise, I agree with the other commentor who suggested this is a very good history lesson disguised as a sonnet. But maybe that is why you called it a "sonneto"! (or is that Italian for sonnet?)
The Twist at the end with "patriotic partners" was odd -- it makes me want a sequel. Is it sarcasm? Does this show that the enculturation was pathetically successful? Or does it praise patriotism?
Sabio, yes I violated the strictness of absolute sonnet form, and Sonetto is Italian for sonnet, the last line is rife with some poetic sarcasm. Thanks for the thoughtful comment.
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