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.

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