Remnant
by Kory Wells
– Letter to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs from Dr. Joseph McDowell, Fairmount, Georgia, October 19th, 1869
The Catawba
are now in a state
of poverty. Moved and
removed. Sold out. Lands
exhausted. Good citizens
compelled to become
subservient to the whites.
Ever peaceable,
anxious to join
their friends
west of the Great River.
Justly entitled.
They have never before
asked aid
from their Great Father
the President.
In all about seventy souls
in whose behalf I write –
in what way
are they to proceed?
Kory Wells is a seventh generation Tennessean whose poetry has previously appeared here on Deep South. She is author of Heaven Was the Moon, a poetry collection from March Street Press, and also performs her poetry on the album Decent Pan of Cornbread, a collaboration with her daughter, old-time musician Kelsey Wells. Twice a finalist for the Rash Award for Poetry, Wells is a mentor in the low-residency program MTSU Write. “Remnant,” a found poem, is from a letter written on behalf of a remnant of native Catawba, descended from the Saponi people, which included her second and third great-grandparents. Follow Wells on Twitter.