Mill Woods Living Heritage

A Ballad of Mill Woods

New Town, New Town,
What’s it gonna be town?
Who is gonna scheme this town,
Who will build this dream town?

Hush, hush, they buy the land,
And bank it on the down-low,
Nine square miles to grow the plan-
Mill Woods-watch it grow!

The word’s out-they’re selling lots
At City Hall-affordable? C’mon down!
Join the line ups, scheme and plot,
Build your dream in this new town.

Oh the curved roads, the ring roads,
Around and round we go.
Mill Woods curved roads, the go-slow roads-
What city grid? What status quo?

Kameyosek, Meyokumin, (chant like a skipping rhyme)
Meyonuk and Satoo, Sakaw, Minchau,
And Tawa to you too!

The names we give to where we live
Are nods to those before us:
The Papaschase, the pioneers,
Their names give us a purpose
To recognize that history
Is the story of what’s gained and lost
In the settling of boundaries
In the reckoning of cost.

In Mill Woods, we’re lost and found
In this place that people come to,
Some from trouble on their native ground
To start again, to start anew.

And here’s to all who choose to stay,
To build our schools and raise our families,
To make our art and learn the ways
To grow together-a cultural tapestry.

So all you Mill Woods heroes, come and join the call
To dream and scheme together, to tell our stories, one and all!

                                                                                – Jannie Edwards