Brenda Bufalino

Song of the Split Elm Brenda Bufalino

Penobscot reservation on Indian Island in 1853... "Madeline was born singing. She sang melodies like chants, like forecasts, like conversations with flowers and birds." Madeline's father Jeremiah, a Calvinist preacher, lived in fear of his daughter's unique voice and spirit, which could not be contained. Madeline's Penobscot mother, Hannah, wove her baskets in silence far from Jeremiah's hope for her redemption. She was enthralled and comforted by her daughter's sonorous melodies, and in teaching her the art of weaving, also taught her to honor the spirits of her vision. Tormented by Madeline's song, which he believed to be a call to the demons of the Wells, Maine marsh, Jeremiah prayed to his Calvinist God to either silence his daughter, or remove her from his home forever.