For thousands of years you were a sacred place to the Anisshanabee.
A marshy peninsula hugged by the clear waters of a mighty river.
An entry point for those passing into the next life.
Then the white man came and claimed you as his own.
He turned you into an island and built a fancy house for his wife.
He tried to dry your soggy soil,
but dissatisfied,
discarded you.
So they used you as a place to discard their things.
More men came with lots of money and built a steel mill.
They built blast furnaces with gantry cranes,
carted in miles of pipes to turn you into a man-made maze of metal.
To your ore docks giant ships brought tons of raw materials.
From you railroads trains carried the products of fire.
The Edmund Fitzgerald sank
on his way to you.
America sang for him,
but not for you.
Never for your lost souls.
Ghosts inhabit you.
And feral cats who eat the rats
beneath the gulls that float between two cities.
There they hear you humming eerily.
Here we’re poisoned by your toxicity.
I can see you from my window, seven miles north.
Your flare stack an exhaust pipe for the toxic fumes of production,
burning into carbon dioxide and water vapor.
A flame so large it looks like the city is burning.
As the fire grows, the machinery groans.
So bright, an orange cross of light reaches from you, trying to reach me.
I can almost feel the heat but am cooled by the full moon above.
Both night & day are equal
as the sun passes the celestial equator.
I pray not knowing what to believe,
hoping that history too has reached a turning point,
that then & now will be made equal,
and you will be made whole again.
What did they call you
before they named you
Zug Island?
Laura Bailey (LB) is a poet, musician, and social service specialist. She lives in Detroit with her husband, Andy, and four bunnies. Together they host a monthly activism-oriented bike ride and a fireside musical gathering. Visit LB’s website to read her Michigan adventure stories, learn helpful tips for promoting social justice, and hear some of her spoken word at www.awakestilldreaming.com.
