Poetry Postcard 42: Tourists

Greetings from Boston! I was supposed to fly from Baltimore this morning to attend the AWP Conference, but with snow on its way, I got out of Dodge early.

www.postcardcollector.org

My friend, novelist Danuta Hinc, and I arrived last night. Whew! That was good thinking. Our original flight has already been cancelled. Hubby is home with the kids today.

With extra time in Boston, I get to be a tourist today. At the top of my must-see list is the vintage postcard exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts.

Tourism has a double edge in my mind. When I was a college student at NYU, we used to avoid midtown Manhattan on the weekends. Why? Tourists! My friends and I were “real” New Yorkers. Tourists were people to avoid.

From Ephemeral New York

I’ve had good and bad experiences as a tourist. I love London, but have witnessed anti-American sentiment there. In Egypt, I witnessed local men sexually harassing a young Asian girl who must have been a tourist. My one visit to Israel was a lifetime highlight, but included an incident when we drove into the wrong neighborhood and someone threw a bottle at our van.

Postcard #42 addresses this aspect of tourism – the tension between “native” and visitor.

Indian Family – Cherokee Indian Reservation, Cherokee, N. C. 257

Photo by W. M. Cline

Postcard: Cherokee, N. C.

The woman’s fringed dress and beaded sash.

The man’s feathered headdress, blue tie.

The child between them holds a tomahawk

made of wood and stone, his fingers loose

on the handle. The man’s hand closes

around his son’s waist, as if the child might bolt

out of frame. The boy looks into the camera−

only he. A photographer from Standard Souvenirs

and Novelties has come to the reservation

to get this shot. The day is bright.

Shadows move on the teepee behind them.

Laura Shovan

Postcard Information

"The Cherokees today number of 3000 on the reservation here. They are descendants of those who hid in the Smokies when the Cherokee removal to Oklahoma began in 1838."

PUBLISHED BY STANDARD SOUVENIRS & NOVELTIES, INC., KNOXVILLE, TENN.

Postcard lovers, here is a website for you. At Collective History, you'll find virtual postcards. Many catalog important historical events. Not all are kid friendly, so preview first. These images would make great prompts for writing.

I am taking tomorrow off for AWP, so there will be no new post. If you’re at the conference, find me at table X13. I’m hoping to attend Ellen Hopkins and Holly Thompson’s panel on YA verse novels. Here is the information:

Event Title: Poetry Serving Story Serving Teens: Verse Novels for Young Adults
Participants: Holly Thompson, Ellen Hopkins, David Levithan, Mariko Nagai, Samantha Schutz
Date: Saturday, March 9
Time: 1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
Location: Room 110, Hynes Convention Center

This week, I received an ARC of Holly’s new novel, The Language Inside, in the mail. Look for an Author Amok interview with Holly later this month.

Friday is the big Poetry Postcard Project wrap-up post. I promise the final poem will be SUPER (hint, hint).