Antigonish, may refer to a poem by nineteenth century poet William Hughes Mearns. It was inspired by reports of a ghost of a man roaming the stairs of a haunted house, in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. The word Antigonish is derived from the Mi'kmaq meaning "river of many forks".
"The Long Walk" was described as a major event in Navajo History. Between 1863 and 1866, more than 10,000 Navajo (Diné) were forcibly removed to the Bosque Redondo Reservation at Fort Sumner from Fort Defiance in Arizona, in current-day New Mexico. During the Long Walk, the U.S. military marched Navajo (Diné) men, women, and children between 250 to 450 miles, depending on the route they took, they were forced to walk across the desert barefoot, without food or water. Moreover, the Reservation in reality, served more as an internment camp.
The first quatrain of Antigonish: "Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn't there! He wasn't there again today, I wish, I wish he'd go away!"