Vermont French
Liz Minette
Quebecois migration,
John and Mary
arrived in Vermont
from Montreal
with their infant
daughter Mary.
In Vermont,
they had John,
they had
Nelson
and Arvilla,
in New York
they had
Eliza and
Harriet,
in Wisconsin
they had
Edward,
Jefferson
and Delbert.
They moved
from Canada,
from Vermont,
from New York
to Wisconsin,
the driftless
region,
to farm
and fish.
I write this
to say their
names again
because who
will say their
names again?
–
My second cousin,
her family (husband,
two sons and a
daughter who
was born crying)
and I are talking
at Starbucks in
Barnes & Noble at
the mall – the kids
finding books and
novelties they love,
the adults, drinking
coffee.
My cousin
over a latte
tells me she
did an Ancestry
DNA test, says
some of her
blood reports
Vermont French.