Diana Arterian
JUNE 15, 1884
Laborers were leveling
a mound of earth
on the shores
of Onondaga Lake
came upon a pile of skulls
and skeletons
The mound a graveyard
for the Onondaga
The bodies crumbled to dust
being exposed to air
The archeologists drilled
without discovering anything
Diana Arterian was born and raised in Arizona. She currently resides in Los Angeles where she is pursuing her PhD in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Southern California. She holds an MFA in poetry from CalArts. Diana is a Poetry Editor at Noemi Press, and a Managing Editor and of Ricochet. She has recently been honored with residencies and scholarships from Caldera Arts Center and Vermont Studio Center. Her chapbook, Death Centos, was published by Ugly Duckling Presse, and her writing and translations have appeared or are forthcoming in Aufgabe, Black Warrior Review, Denver Quarterly, DIAGRAM, Two Serious Ladies, and The Volta, among others.