Line 2: “Glacier woman”- Most likely a reference to the Alaskan Native Americans who were forced across the Bering Straight.
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons: Photograph by Edward Sheriff Curtis, taken ca. 1927, copyrighted 28 February 1929. The photographs of Óla Noatak and Noatak Child are portraits of the wife and one of the children of Paul Ivanoff, Curtis' interpreter during his 1927 field trip.
Line 7: “Mesa sands” – Mesa – Physical Geogr. A high rocky tableland or plateau; spec. a flat-topped hill or plateau of rock with one or more steep sides, usually rising abruptly from a surrounding plain and common in the arid and semi-arid areas of the United States. (OED)
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Line 14: “Pocahontas” – Among her several native names, the one best known to the English was Pocahontas (translated at the time as “little wanton” or “mischievous one”). She was a daughter of Powhatan (as he was known to the English; he was also called Wahunsenacah), chief of the Powhatan empire, which consisted of some 28 tribes of the Tidewater region. Pocahontas was a young girl of age 10 or 11 when she first became acquainted with the colonists who settled in the Chesapeake Bay area in 1607. (Encyclopedia Britannica)
A 19th century depiction. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Line 15: “virgin May- A possible second reference to the symbolism of Pocahontas. Could also be referring to the Greek deity, Persephone, the goddess of Springtime who was captured by Hades and brought down to the underworld to be its queen. Her mother, Demeter, the goddess of Harvest was so distraught in her absence that the earth perished away which lent itself to the explanation for the reasons of the fall and winter seasons. (Wikipedia)
Line 17: “Dogwood”
A flowering dogwood blooming in April. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Line 23: “Larches”- Pertaining to or characterized by larceny; thievish.