Chagrin River Review--Goes Live Monday, September 24th

Several of my colleagues and I have been developing an online literary journal, Chagrin River Review. The co-founders and co-editors of this journal are (besides me) Angie Weaver, Tobin Terry, Tom Hyland, Ellen McHugh, and Suzanne Ondrus--with some help from Byron Kanoti. We all brought something different to the task, and the fruit of our work will be revealed in the first issue this Monday at this web address: www.chagrinriverreview.com. We are all connected to Lakeland Community College in Kirtland, Ohio, but the college's role so far has been peripheral--so don't blame the college if any material offends!

One of my covert goals with Chagrin River Review is to develop a literature and mythology of our home--which is the Chagrin River drainage area of Northeastern Ohio: Lake County, Geauga County, Cuyahoga County, and surrounding area. This area is part of what the French Jesuit Exploreres and Voyageurs called "La Nation du Chat," the Cat Nation, the home of the Erie Indians.

Can we make any progress on such a mythology? This is the same kind of task that William Butler Yeats set for himself in Ireland over a hundred years ago. Was he successful? Of course we can make a start on this!

The journal will evolve as we learn to exploit the power of the internet--so we will include oral readings and more graphics in the future. And who knows--maybe some day a bit of video. Right now we have some excellent poetry and short fiction. Take a look at our new journal!

Link to Chagrin River Review

The Cat Nation--Home of the Erie Indians

The French Jesuits, explorers of Canada, knew about a tribe of Indians on the south shore of Lake Erie, stretching west from what is now the city of Buffalo. They called this tribe "La Nation du Chat," or in English, "The Cat Nation." That apparently was the translation of an Indian name for the tribe. Some years ago I wrote a poem about the Cat Nation:


Cat Nation Ghosts

(--the Erie Indians, known to the French Jesuits as "La Nation du Chat," victims of genocide circa 1655 at the hands of the Iroquois Federation)

only the subtle see the signs:

panthers haunt these woods
leave titillating traces:

names, somewhat corrupted--
Geauga, Chagrin, Cuyahoga, Erie,

ambiguous forts, looking like
natural rock formations
on hills overlooking rivers
and creeks

strangely shaped rocks
chips of flint encrusted
bits of bone and antler

the remnants
haunt the sugar woods

move about on moonless nights
stealthy like the lynx
like the wildcat

we don't forget:

our blood still soaks the rocks
our bones still quicken
the clay:

these woods are full of ghosts!